Citizens’ Juries
Description
A citizens' jury is a small group of people who meet over a short period of time (usually between three and five days) to be informed about a specific local issue or topic and to debate the issue in order to come to conclusions or identify solutions.
Citizens' juries are organised by an agency or organisation that wishes to have public input on a particular decision or identified areas for action.
Potential uses
Juries can feed into particular decisions taken by an organisation or debate a specific topic and make recommendations about it.
Examples of a single-issue topic include a decision on where to site a hospital. A jury could also be held to discuss youth crime and to debate potential solutions.
How it works
Membership is drawn from the general public.
The format is broadly similar to that of a court case. The jury is presented with evidence and can question and discuss this with those "witnesses" presenting verbal evidence. An independent moderator leads the jury in their discussion.
Once all the information has been considered and presented and the jury has had sufficient time for deliberation, they make a series of recommendations
Resources required
Citizens' juries can be expensive to run due to the level of staff input required. The main requirements are a suitable venue and the time spent organising the event, preparing evidence and recruiting jurors.
Further information
A Scottish Executive report details the process of setting up a citizens' jury, the resource requirements and the contexts in which they have been used:
