Residents strongly support allowing non-Bermudians to sit on juries as well as changing the age of juror eligibility and refining “a sensible regime for exemptions”.

Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, also told The Royal Gazette that “people are supportive of a smaller jury, but in cases that are non-capital — so in a murder trial, it would remain at 12”.

Being tried by a jury of peers is a constitutional right and Ms Wilkerson said feedback from the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated that the option to be tried before a judge rather than jurors could only go ahead with the agreement of the defendant.

She added: “In certain kinds of cases, it could be a panel, depending on the complexity” — such as a highly technical case involving cryptocurrency and digital assets, where a lay jury might struggle to interpret the evidence.

Ms Wilkerson was speaking three months after consultation for an extensive overhaul of the rules for jury trials was announced, with the pressing issue of a backlog at the Supreme Court cited as a top reason for reforming the system.

“One of the things the criminal bar has said is, if you’re able to increase the pool generally, that in and of itself might have the result that you might not need to make some other changes,” she said.

Jury trials have been hampered by court space, budgetary constraints and some of the rules for empanelling 12 jurors, which Ms Wilkerson acknowledged “has been challenging — we’ve seen that in cases, particularly where you have a jury of 12, you have two reserves, and then you get a norovirus”.

She added: “What happens? Is it appropriate for the trial to be abandoned and have a retrial?

“Would the case have reached a point where enough evidence was in front of that jury for the case to continue in some lesser format?”

Feedback has leant more towards cutting juries down to nine rather than eight, the Attorney-General said — but keeping it at 12 for capital cases.

Reviewing the system has come with conceding that “people overwhelmingly do not want to serve”, Ms Wilkerson said.

“At least, that’s based on the feedback. The number of deferral letters, the exemption requests.

“The question is are we really getting the proper pool to begin with? We keep hearing people say they would love to serve but they’ve never been called.”

The present mechanism for calling up would-be jurors is based on the roll of registered voters. Ms Wilkerson said technology such as artificial intelligence could improve the system.

She recalled being called up for jury duty during her insurance career when her deputy was summoned the same day.

“An AI vetting could help flag things of that sort, that you have a concentration of people from the same employer or even the same family,” she said.

“I don’t think we’re using tools to help with the mechanics. I think AI tools can help vet that way — not vet your area of bias, but the practical side.”

Ms Wilkerson highlighted the cumbersome rules for medical exemptions, such as a recent case in which a cancer patient undergoing treatment and being fed intravenously was compelled to appear in person before a judge to be exempted.

She added: “Some of these things aren’t even legislative. There may be changes around the practise of guidelines for how you can consider exemptions and so on.”

Ms Wilkerson said revisions to legislation such as the Juror Act 1971 could be done easily and in stages.

“We can make some changes immediately and some changes later.”

Raising the top age for juror eligibility “from 70 to 75, or some other number, is something that can be considered — that would open up the pool”.

She said opening up juries to non-Bermudians might be “a little more complex to do as a matter of drafting and the Cabinet process, but it’s still doable”.

Ms Wilkerson noted that compensation could be examined as “more of a priority”, not merely for jury service but across government boards.

She added: “A consistent complaint is that these frameworks are governed by pieces of legislation from the Seventies, sometimes even earlier, and they’re out of date.”

Ms Wilkerson looked forward to seeing “reform to our justice system” when she was appointed Attorney-General in September 2024.

She said this week that it was important for the public to appreciate that consultation on reforms was sincere.

“Jury service is something every individual has to take on, so the Government has no reason to push a view of what that should look like,” the minister noted.

“It’s the role of every citizen as part of their civic duty and they should have a say in what that looks like.”

Ms Wilkerson said she had been “surprised that in the polls that I’ve seen and in-person consultation, most people believe that because of the small size of the jurisdiction, allowing non-Bermudians to be part of the judicial pool would be fair”.

She added: “They say that, obviously, with caveats around making sure they are culturally attuned to Bermuda, meaning they have lived in the jurisdiction for more than a certain number of years.”

The Attorney-General said involving parish councils in consultation had worked well and that the ministry would continue using it for feedback going forward.

Ms Wilkerson said seeking views from students had proved successful — and that with town hall meetings coming to an end, the ministry planned a similar exercise with a group of 40 Bermuda College sociology students.

She added that the summary of views and public feedback would be prepared swiftly.

“You will see that in the next month,” she said.