Jury Duty
Trial by jury is one of the cornerstones of our justice system. However, being called up for jury duty can be a problem for home educating families. So what is the process if you are unable to serve at this time? How to respond to unsympathetic court registrars? NCHENZ representatives met with Ministry of Justice staff in Wellington in February 2017, after several issues regarding home educators and jury service were bought to our attention. Since then there have been fewer issues, however it is important that you know how to request deferral of service or to be excused. Read on for details.
Most homeschoolers believe strongly in civic duty and community responsibility, and would be happy to serve on a jury if possible. However, their obligations as home educators and their individual situations sometimes make this difficult or impossible without a negative impact on the family unit.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) recognises that not everyone summonsed will be able to attend on the stated date. The options available are a deferral of service or requesting to be excused from jury duty. There is criteria which must be met for each. For a home educator whose circumstances are unlikely to change, it is probably better to apply to be excused rather than deferred. However, be aware that the law requires the registrars in the first instance to seek deferral rather than excusing applicants. Therefore you may have to be quite insistent if it's excusal you seek.
Deferring Jury Duty
A deferral can be applied for by writing to the MOJ with information and proof as to why you cannot attend. Reasons for deferral must fit into one of the categories described in law, which are:
A special or pressing engagement for your business or job
Your health or disability
Family commitments
Other personal circumstances
You will also need to nominate alternative dates you can be available within the next 12 months. So long as you give a reasonable reason, it is not difficult to gain a deferral the first time. However, there is a requirement that you will then be available later in the year, and it is difficult to defer jury service subsequent times.
Being Excused from Jury Service
To be excused, you must give a valid reason and provide evidence to support that. Nevertheless, the legislation regarding reasons for excusal from jury duty are quite broad and non-specific, and it is up to the registrar to interpret and apply this legislation to an individual applicant’s circumstances. Some home educators have experienced a negative reaction when applying to be excused on the grounds of homeschooling.
“... homeschooling is not a reason for excusal under the legislation - you need to either provide deferral dates in the school holidays and arrange alternative childcare for your children, or arrange a substitute teacher for the time you are on jury service." - email from Deputy Registrar to a homeschooling parent
Competing MOE & MOJ Legislation
Home educating is regulated by legislation requiring parents/caregivers to satisfy the Ministry of Education that their children “will be taught as regularly and well as in a registered school.” Laws around jury service are strict, as many people shirked this duty without real reason and there were difficulties getting sufficient suitable jurors for trials.
“I find it frustrating that one government department says I must teach my children as regularly and well as if they were at school while another tells me I must put them in childcare while I do something else.”
Valid Reasons to be Excused
The acceptable reasons given for excusal are:
The nature of that person’s occupation or business, or of any special and pressing commitment arising in the course of that person’s occupation or business
That person’s disability
That person’s state of health, or family commitments, or other personal circumstances
“Home educator” is the occupation of parents/caregivers who are homeschooling their children. There is an onus on the main home educating parent to personally facilitate the education of the children, and many families will not have alternative child care possibilities in order for that person to attend jury duty. In addition, no childcare provider could reasonably be expected to take on the actual education of the children during that time, meaning that the children are therefore forced to “miss school” by virtue of the absence of their only teacher. It is impractical and unreasonable to expect a home educator to disrupt their children’s educational process and place them in the care of strangers. This also goes against the strong personal convictions of many home educators.
There are no “substitute teachers” for home education. Even if there were, this would be disruptive to the children’s education as homeschooling is highly individualised and not easily taken over by someone else. In addition, home educators often have a number of children of various ages in their care. These children may be in the midst of important study, or they may have special needs or high anxiety issues that make leaving them in the care of someone else difficult or inappropriate. In all cases, the delivery of the child’s education is dependent on the availability and commitment of the parent/caregiver.
How to be Excused
The Ministry of Justice emphasize that homeschoolers should include as much pertinent information as possible in their application to be excused, because they often receive notes which basically just say "I can't do it.". Don't be that person :) Details that may be relevant or have a bearing on your application to be excused might include:
The ages of your children, inability to leave them on their own, and unavailability of reasonable alternative care
Your obligations under Section 21 of the Education Act and your commitment to your children’s educational needs
Having a breastfed child in your care
Having a child with high needs, disabilities, or severe anxiety problems that would make it unreasonable to leave them in someone else's care
Why deferral is not practical because your circumstances are very unlikely to change within a 12-month period as the commitment to home educate is long term in most cases
Suitable proof or evidence to accompany your application might include:
Birth certificates
Exemption certificates
Letter from a doctor or other relevant professional
Letter of support from NCHENZ, your regional home education support group or similar (to confirm the role of a home educator and the commitment homeschooling requires)
While the courts have gotten tougher about jury duty, no one wants a jury member who is not able to fully concentrate. A parent/caregiver who is deeply worried about their children while they are at court is not a useful jury member. If you are truly not in a position to serve on a jury, and that is unlikely to change, then gather your evidence and apply to be excused. The registrar's first response will likely be to try and make it a deferral, however you do have the right of appeal to the judge on the day.
Attending Jury Service
If you are in a position to make it work so you can do jury duty, we encourage you to do so. You could also make this a great topic study for your home educated students!
The summons will give a date and time you need to appear. On the day, you will be in a room with all the other people summonsed. Everyone's name will be in a ballot box, and names will be randomly chosen - those people will be called before the judge and lawyers one at a time. The lawyers may challenge people on certain grounds. The potential juror may also give the judge a reason why they cannot or should not serve on this jury. Each person who is not challenged or otherwise excused takes their place on the jury benches. This process continues until a full jury is selected, and then everyone else is sent home.
While serving on a jury, you can apply for childcare payments and are eligible for attendance fees from the courts, and may be able to claim transport costs. However, the way the childcare criteria are set up are based on an assumption that the children attend school during the day (if school age). They generally don't fit well for the needs of a home educating family, although reported experiences differ on this. It is also possible to apply for payments above the attendance fees where a family is unable to meet their reasonable commitments due to jury duty.
"When I asked for childcare costs for my five school-aged kids for the week I spent on the jury, there were no issues. I had to send in their exemptions to prove that they weren’t at school and I had a quick phone call with someone from the Ministry of Justice. It turned out to be an enormous amount of money - five kids at $40 each per day ... 5.5 days of jury duty - it paid for my husband to have days off work and my father to drive up and spend time with the kids as well."