It is disappointing to have to spend time chasing up errant potential jurors but a general habit of non-attendance after the first day cannot be risked, a Dunedin District Court staff member says.
Four people were reprimanded by district court judge Paul Kellar in Dunedin this week for not turning up for their week-long jury service after the first day.
Three told the judge they did not know they had to, and a fourth said he had child-care issues and forgot to phone the court.
The criminal jury manager at the Dunedin District Court, Rhonda Taylor, said while up to 10 people each week failed to turn up at all without excuse, each week a further four to six people would fail to turn up subsequently during the week, as required, after not being selected on Monday.
She was now spending a lot of time chasing up those people, which was frustrating.
The court's concern was that if people were not pursued, it would become accepted practice not to turn up, she said.
"We don't want them developing bad habits and possibly telling other people they can get out of jury service without consequence. That's why we are not tolerating it here."
In trials where there were multiple defendants or several trials a week, it was essential as many potential jurors as possible turned up.
While most people were dedicated to jury service once they turned up, the subsequent non-attendance by some showed a lack of responsibility, she said.
However, Otago University law dean Prof Mark Henaghan said there was an assumption among professionals and people used to the court system that people knew how important jury service was, but many in the general populace might not realise the importance and significance of serving on a jury.
More needed to be done to educate people about the importance of jury duty, which was a cornerstone of a democratic society. The system utterly depended on the good faith of people to carry out a civil duty, much of it at their own cost.
A Justice ministry spokesman said 67,000 people never turned up for jury service at all without being excused last year. However, figures on how many people turned up on the first day but missed subsequent days were not kept.
And the issue may be localised to Dunedin. The ODT approached several court managers to ask if they encountered similar problems, but was referred to the Justice ministry's corporate communications team, who arranged an interview with Rotorua District Court manager Wendy Roberts.
Ms Roberts said she had gone through her records and the court did not have the same issue. In fact, the problem was people turning up on the days they were not needed.
"People are quite committed to the jury process."
The ministry spokesman said it seemed what was happening in Dunedin was "highly unusual".
Potential jurors received information about what was required of them from several sources before and during service - including with their jury summons, from court staff, and in a DVD shown in court.
The ministry was focusing on raising public awareness about the importance of jury service and of the obligation to serve when called up, he said.
It was also updating all communication materials to jurors and developing a new website which further explained the juror process and what was expected of jurors.
While the maximum fine is $10,000, no-one in New Zealand has been fined so far this year for not attending jury service at any stage.
