Government to improve privacy for potential jurors

Cabinet has signed off proposals to remove the addresses of potential jurors from jury lists, Justice Minister Simon Power announced today.

 

It comes after convicted murderer George Baker, who represented himself in a recent trial, corresponded with a juror after appearing to memorise address details from the jury list.

 

"Although there have been some changes to protect the privacy of jurors, this incident showed that juror information needs to be further restricted," Mr Power said.

 

Under the current law, a jury list must contain the name, occupation, date of birth, and full address of potential jurors.

 

Since 2008, self-represented defendants have been prohibited from keeping a copy of the jury list or taking notes, but they can inspect the list under supervision.

 

In addition, where there is a real risk an accused may intimidate jurors, the prosecutor can apply for a judge-alone trial.

 

"The law needs to be tightened further because incidents like this have the potential to shake jurors' confidence in the jury system, and discourage the public from participating in this important civic duty."

 

The proposed changes will:

 

Remove the addresses of potential jurors from jury lists.

Allow the prosecution, defence lawyer, or court-appointed adviser to defendants representing themselves to have automatic access to all address information on request.

Prevent the accused from ever seeing potential jurors' addresses by prohibiting the defence lawyer or court-appointed adviser from showing the addresses to the accused.

Extend section 14A(6) of the Juries Act, which makes it clear that misconduct in relation to jury lists may be treated as contempt of court, to include the act of showing the accused, or any other person, the jurors' addresse