Citizens Juries

Public authorities have many difficult decisions to make like: “how should we decide what drugs the NHS should pay for?” and “should there be fracking in Lancashire?”

Opinion polls are important. They tell us what citizens think. But most policy questions are complex. Citizens’ juries give participants reliable information and time to explore difficult questions. They can tell us something that opinion polls and focus groups don’t tell us: what citizens think once they better understand a policy question. That can help, and give legitimacy to, public authorities making decisions that affect the public. Citizens’ juries put the public into public policymaking.

In a citizens’ jury, a cross-section of citizens (e.g. in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, education) are recruited and paid to tackle a public policy question like “should we have a sugar tax?”.  You can read how we select members of a jury here.

The jury meets for several days and is provided with reliable, impartial information from expert witnesses. The jury members ask questions of the experts, and work together to reach group conclusions. Participants often complete questionnaires at the start and end of the jury to show how their minds change as they better understand the problem they have been set.

The results are published, and can be fed back to public policymakers.

Citizens’ Juries c.i.c. is a social enterprise dedicated to designing and running citizens’ juries in partnership with the Jefferson Center, the US- based charity which developed the citizens’ jury method. The Director is Dr Malcolm Oswald, an Honorary Research Fellow in Law at the University of Manchester. Citizens’ Juries c.i.c. is supported by the University of Manchester, and is a member of the Democracy R&D Network, a network of organisations around the world developing, practising and prompting ways to improve democracy.

5 reasons to choose Citizens Juries’ c.i.c to design and run your citizens’ jury:

• The only organisation in the UK specialising in designing and running citizens’ juries
• Delivered in partnership with the Jefferson Center – the founders of citizens’ juries
• Rigorous methodology
• Focused on minimising bias – a significant critique of citizens’ juries
• Access to appropriate academic and non-academic expert witnesses.