The Government has announced that the upper age limit for jurors in England and Wales is to be raised to 75, from the current limit of 70, in a bid to reflect modern life and make the system more inclusive.
Justice Minister, Damian Green, said that the upper age limit would be extended because the current justice system had not taken into account changes in life expectancy over the last 25-years. However, he said that another reason for the move was that it would allow it to benefit from the invaluable knowledge and life experience that older people could offer.
Currently, around 178,000 people are called for jury service each year in England and Wales, but at the moment only those aged between 18 and 70 are eligible, so with 2.2 million people in the UK aged between 70 and 75, the extension will significantly add to the pool of potential jurors available.
The Justice Minister said that, as well as having valuable life experience, older retired people often had more free time available to commit to lengthy trials and added that the right to be tried by peers “is, and remains, a cornerstone of the British justice system laid down in the Magna Carta almost 800 years ago”.
However, under the new rules, anyone aged between 70 and 75 who is called to serve but can provide a good reason for why they should not be a juror will be excused from doing so.
The age range for jurors in England and Wales was last amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1988, which raised the upper limit from 65 to 70. However, between 1988 and 2004, those in the 65 to 70 age group who were called could be automatically excused, although after 2004, people in that age range could only be excused if they provided a good reason.