Cinema screenings adopted to revive Scots jury trials

Multiplex cinemas will host Scottish juries to enable the volume restart of solemn criminal business, Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service has announced.

SCTS is seeking to establish remote jury centres, based in cinema complexes in the east and west of Scotland for at least 16 juries, following a recommendation of the Restarting Solemn Trials Working Group under Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk.

The plan follows the success of the “remote jury” model in Edinburgh High Court, one of two pilot solemn trial models begin last month. Under the Edinburgh model, juries observed trials by video link from another courtroom.  (A three courtroom model was used in Glasgow.) The working group recommended that this model be developed to allow juries to view proceedings from jury centres outwith the court estate altogether, which will mean that, even with requirements for physical distancing in place, the High Court can use all the courtrooms at its disposal to run trials.

It will also mean that all High Court trials can continue with the normal 15 jurors, rather than a reduced number such as seven as has been proposed.

The Lord Justice General, Lord Carloway, has agreed and the Scottish Government has provided a £5.5m financial support package.

The working group concluded at an early stage that using remote juries minimised the need to change the fundamentals of the trial process itself – which would be time-consuming and have uncertain outcomes – and maximised the prospects of returning trial capacity, as quickly as possible, to pre-COVID-19 levels of 16 trial courts. 

Successful tests have already been run from a cinema complex, including a mock trial was conducted with a full jury of 15 persons observing proceedings involving the judge, court staff, prosecution, defence, security and SCTS staff members playing the roles of accused and witnesses. The mock jury consisted of members of the working group and representatives from other justice sector and third sector organisations, whose feedback was used to refine and improve the model. 

Screens will be divided into four so that jurors can see the judge, counsel and the accused while listening to witnesses or viewing the evidence. Cameras will also face the jury members so that their faces can be seen on video screens placed above the jury box. Jurors will be able to send messages to the judge through a member of the court staff as usual.

Procurement of suitable sites is still in progress, and there will then be a period of fit-out and testing, in advance of the first High Court remote jury centre trials starting in the autumn. Meantime High Court trials will continue to be heard using the two and three courts models in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Discussions are underway with Scottish Government on how the remote jury centre model can be extended to include sheriff court jury trials.

Lady Dorrian commented: "The beauty of this solution is that it preserves the 15-person jury trial, and will allow us, in time, to raise business in the High Court to a level that will start to address the growing backlog of cases. 

"The working group took a long hard look at the lessons learned from the two-court and three-court model currently in use to run a small number of trials. It was clear that the remote jury model does work, and, if suitable external venues could be identified, it would be possible to run a much higher number of trials, making full use of the courtrooms we have available for the trials. I’m very grateful to everyone on the group, and others who have provided feedback, for helping us develop such an exciting, imaginative but extremely practical solution." 

Eric McQueen, chief executive of SCTS, added: "The great advantage of these remote jury centres is that they provide, in a single building, a number of spacious and soundproofed auditoria that can comfortably accommodate 15 physically distanced jurors, combined with state of the art secure technology. It also means we have a model that can be replicated at various sites around the country. Everyone who saw the test set-up was impressed both by the quality of audio-presentation of court proceedings, and by the way in which the cinema complexes can be transformed into centres that properly reflect the solemnity of court proceedings."

Commending the proposals, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "Our £5.5m funding of this scheme not only allows serious criminal cases to proceed, but also provides reassurance to victims, witness and accused who have been adversely affected by case delays. 

"Work is ongoing to consider what further actions may be required to address the backlog and for remote jury centres to be further rolled out for sheriff and jury cases."

Stuart Munro, vice convener of the Law Society of Scotland's Criminal Law Committee and a member of the working group, described the move as "a very positive outcome" and "a practical solution to allow long-delayed jury trials to get underway again".

He continued: "Throughout this process the Law Society, alongside colleagues in the Faculty of Advocates, has consistently expressed the concerns of the legal profession about the introduction of any changes which would seek to exclude the role of a jury in trials for the most serious of crimes. Today’s announcement shows the kind of innovative and practical solutions which can be developed when everyone involved gets around the same, virtual, table to discuss the challenges and options. We hope to see this same approach taken in addressing the other challenges presented by working during the pandemic within the criminal justice system."

Ronnie Renucci QC, Vice Dean of Faculty and President of the Scottish Criminal Bar Association, another member of the working group, also welcomed the move. He said: "Lady Dorrian should be applauded for not being afraid to employ a radical solution to the problem, and likewise the SCTS should be applauded for their hard work, innovative thinking and expertise in putting that plan into action in a way that will not only secure the retention of full strength jury trials in Scotland, but will also allow them to resume at a sustainable and realistic level which has the potential to begin eating into the backlog.

"This problem is one faced by jurisdictions worldwide, and Lady Dorrian, in adopting a collaborative approach involving all stakeholders, including the Crown, Faculty of Advocates, Law Society and victims groups, coupled with the support and financial backing of Scottish Government has ensured that once more Scotland has led the way. I have no doubt that other jurisdictions will follow."

To date English judges have been sceptical about the merits of such an approach, despite a number of mock remote trials carried out by the JUSTICE organisation, but there have been no dissenting voices as yet in Scotland.