Are You Suffering After Serving on a Jury?

August 17, 2017, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

We are expected to serve jury duty in Ontario as part of our civic duty. It is important and can be rewarding.  Most people get a summons to jury selection once or twice in their lives, most of us are never selected to be on the jury. Some jury trials involve crimes that are neutral in their impact to the jurors. Others, however, can be extremely traumatic. Serving on a jury is never an easy task. Coroner’s inquests can be particularly traumatic.

Jury trials that involve criminal offences of a violent or sexual nature can take weeks to present. The testimony, and the evidence can be traumatic even to seasoned professionals. Many jurors in these cases are haunted for life by the images they see, and the weight of the responsibility they bore as a juror to be objective and fair to all parties involved. Some have guilt for the rest of their lives about the decision reached at trial.

Until recently, jurors who were traumatized were left to pay for their trauma treatment out of pocket. For those who suffer PTSD from the trial this can be a very long and very expensive road to travel alone. Thankfully, the government announced this year that jurors will now qualify for free access to counselling if they suffer PTSD after particularly graphic coroner inquests or trials.

Beginning this year jurors who seek counselling will be matched with local experienced counsellors. They will qualify for 8 sessions for free. The service can be provided in person or over the phone. The government has designed this program such that there are no out of pocket expenses for those jurors seeking help. All jurors who serve on a civil or criminal jury, or at a coroner’s inquest are offered access to the program.

If you served on a jury and feel that you require help you can speak with a qualified and experienced counsellor toll free 24/7. The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario has a website dedicated to information on how to access all the services.  The counselling is completely confidential, and the service is operated by an independent body.

If you need help please contact the service today. Here is the contact information and eligibility information:

Speak with a qualified and experienced counsellor, toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• 1-844-JUROR-ON 1.844.587.6766

To request counselling, jurors need to provide the following information:

• location of the court where their jury trial or inquest took place
• start and end date of the trial/inquest and
• name of the case or inquest

Jurors initially receive up to four one-hour counselling sessions. They can choose to receive counselling services over the phone, in-person, via email or videoconference and in English or French. They will also receive disability accommodation.

Eligibility

The Juror Support Program is available to jurors after they complete jury duty on a criminal trial, a civil trial or Coroner’s inquest. Jurors can access counselling services by calling 1-844-JUROR-ON 1.844.587.6766

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.