FLAC welcomes decision to quash jury ban on deaf woman

FLAC, which represented deaf woman Joan Clarke, welcomed the ruling of the High Court last week quashing a decision of the Galway County Registrar to "excuse" Ms Clarke from jury service. The High Court said the County Registrar had no power to make such a decision and Mr. Justice O'Keeffe also said there could be no blanket ban on deaf people serving on juries. A working mother of two in Co. Galway, Joan Clarke received her jury summons in July 2006. The Courts Service however soon informed the local Circuit Court office that Ms. Clarke was unable to serve, citing the Juries Act, 1976 which lists people who are ineligible for jury service. Under the heading of "Incapable Persons", it includes persons "who because of insufficient capacity to read, deafness or other permanent infirmity [are] unfit to serve on a jury".

Ms. Clarke contacted FLAC, and in November 2006 started High Court proceedings challenging the decision to exclude her from the jury. Citing cases from various jurisdictions (including the U.S. where a landmark case in 1984 ruled that a deaf person should not be excluded from service just because they were deaf), the 2008 hearing focused on two central issues; whether a deaf juror could pick up the signals sent by the inflection and tone of voice of a witness; and the '13th person in the jury room' rule. Judgment was reserved in the case. Earlier this year, a Law Reform Commission Consultation Paper was issued on "Jury Service" which outlined, inter alia "The Commission does not consider that the presence of a sign language interpreter or CART operator would be an intrusive presence in the courtroom or at jury deliberations. The Commission does not consider that the presence of an interpreter is restricted by the 12 person rule for jury deliberations. A sign language interpreter properly trained and accredited, working to agreed professional standards, should not be prevented from being present to assist a hearing impaired or deaf person during jury deliberations. As such, it is the Commission's view that the presence of an interpreter will not impinge upon the secrecy of jury deliberations". The Commission provisionally recommended that the Juries Act be amended to ensure that "no person is prohibited from jury service on the basis of disability alone and that capacity be recognised as the only appropriate requirement for jury service". And they recommended the provision of assistance to deaf and hearing impaired and visually impaired persons to enable them to carry out the duties of jury members.

Because Mr. Justice O'Keeffe in the High Court last week decided to quash the decision to exclude Ms Clarke from the jury, the judge did not go on to deal with Constitutional or European Convention on Human Rights issues connected with the case. However, he did say that in his opinion sign language interpreters could not be allowed into a jury room, thereby excluding deaf persons who rely on sign language interpretation.

FLAC solicitor Michael Farrell said the decision made an important dent in the ban on deaf persons serving on juries. Such a ban was offensive and hurtful to deaf people and had no place in a modern, inclusive society. "This ruling should enable deaf people to serve on juries with the assistance of readily available modern technology," said Mr. Farrell, adding "it is unfortunate that the judge did not go on to accept that sign language interpreters could be used in a jury room as well without interfering with the deliberations of the jury. Courts all over the United States had been allowing sign language interpreters into jury rooms for years and it had not impaired the standard of jury trials."

The Clarke case has been adjourned until today (21 July) to allow all sides to consider the judgment and make suggestions as to what happens next. Mr. Farrell said that whatever happened in this case, it was only a matter of time before the State would have to stop treating deaf people as second class citizens and treat them instead as fully equal to hearing people when serving on juries and everywhere else.

To view the FLAC Briefing Note on the background to the case of Joan Clarke v. Galway County Registrar, the Courts Service, Ireland and the Attorney General, High Court, Record No. 1338JR /2006, 14 July 2010 in full, please follow the link:
http://www.flac.ie/download/pdf/2010_07_14_clarke_case_briefing_document.pdf
See also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/jul/20/deaf-jurors-jury-system.

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