80 percent give jury service a miss

Tauranga District Court

Nearly five times as many people were summonsed for jury service in Tauranga than attended in the last financial year.

Ministry of Justice figures show 11,384 people were summonsed for jury service in Tauranga courts in the 2013 to 2014 financial year and just 2310 attended.

From those who do not attend, 2687 were excused and 4285 were deferred to serve another time. An additional 85 had excuses declined and four had deferrals declined.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce interim chief executive Toni Palmer said jury service was difficult for both employers and employees.

"We have a legal moral obligation to attend, to ensure a balanced jury, but most businesses find it difficult to release staff with the question of the cost in both productivity and remuneration," she said.

Even those who opted to attend were often left waiting around and then only a few were selected to go through to the trial for another cull prior to the actual selection, she said.

"This puts many off making the commitment as it is disruptive to their work and childcare commitments," said Ms Palmer.

According to the ministry, people might be allowed to be deferred or excused from service if they need to work. Jurors were paid a minimum of $31 per half-day.

District Courts general manager Tony Fisher said the number of people who do not attend jury service was not recorded, though an estimated 12 per cent did not respond to jury summonses. Reasons included people ignoring summonses, or not receiving them as they had recently moved addresses.

Some people did not attend because they were ineligible - as in the case of MPs, police and the Governor-General.

Under section 32 of the Juries Act 1981, a person failing to turn up for jury service can be fined up to $1000. Mr Fisher said fining someone was rare and just one person was fined under the provision last financial year.

Figures showed 29,342 attended jury service last financial year, 32,810 were excused and 41,816 had deferrals granted.

Some reasons people provided to be excused or deferred from service included being aged 65 or over and having family commitments. Other excuses related to work, personal circumstances such as language difficulties, physical disabilities, previous excusal, religious beliefs and having attended jury service in the last two years.

Mr Fisher said jury service was an important civic duty and the ministry was grateful to everyone who participated.