At what cost? Advocating for trauma-informed jury practices

The experience of serving as a juror in criminal trials has been found to be a stressful experience for some jurors. However, due to advances in technology, evidence before the court has the potential to be comparatively more graphic than that historically shown in trial, increasing the potential for jurors to experience trauma. In Moore v The State of Western Australia (Citation2023) WASCA 156, the Western Australian Supreme Court of Appeal accepted the risk of vicarious trauma as a result of exposure to graphic material in the course of a criminal trial and found that a request for counselling did not indicate the jury was incapable of being impartial. In this article, the proactive adoption of trauma-informed principles, including the availability of psychological support prior, during and following trials, is posed as an appropriate method by which to reform jury practices consistent with recognising the importance of the role jurors play and the unacceptable risk jury service can pose to psychological health in the absence of such measures.