Jurors play a very important role during trials and without them the court will not be able to make accomplish their objective. These individuals work hand in hand together in becoming part of the court itself. This is the reason why before one becomes part of the jury, they must pass a number of tests in order to become eligible for the service. One of these tests includes the examination of each and every one of the applicants health. Let us explore the health tests jurors must pass before they are accepted for jury duty.
It should be noted that jurors are usually selected among the list of the electoral register of a constituency within the court’s jurisdiction. As mentioned earlier, before they can be included in the pool of potential jurors, they need to be mentally or physically fit to be able to carry out the duties of a juror. In addition, the person needs to have an adequate command and understanding of the English language which will allow him or her to properly carry out their respective duties. These individuals will be doing quite a lot of reading and listening in and out of the court making it necessary to have such comprehension.
Minor disabilities such as hearing problems can be relieved with the help of a few court adjustments. For instance, hearing induction loops is what most courts have today and these are known as a special type of sound system for use by people with hearing aids. As a result hearing problems oftentimes is not strong reason to avoid jury duties.
There is however health concerns that makes applying for jury duties almost impossible. One example of this is with regards to the dyslexia. Characterized by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence, dyslexia, also known as reading disorder that affects young and old people alike. Among the list of common issues include the difficulty in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads
As mentioned earlier, in order to be eligible to serve on jury, one needs to have a solid reading comprehension. This becomes quite problematic in the case of a dyslexic individual as this cases him or her to have severe reading problems is considered unfit to serve on a jury. The court conducts dyslexia testing that is include in their health examination. If the results are positive, a person has a huge likelihood of being excluded in jury service.
The disabled community was able to take a huge load off their backs with the emergence of the Mental Health (Discrimination) Act of 2013. This aims to help these individual relieve themselves from jury duties. Furthermore, the Mental Capacity Act of 2005 deems a person who lacks capacity to serve as a juror disqualified from service.
Being one of the jurors can be both an exciting and rewarding experience to participants. With that being said, this is not all fun and games especially since their job needs to be taken seriously at all times. As a result, people are advised to apply to jury duties only when they feel they are able to perform these activities at any given time when the need calls for them to do so and furthermore without any reservations.
