Guilty or innocent, debriefers help jurors recover from trauma after verdict

The trauma experienced by victims of crime and their families is well documented. Less clear is what happens to jurors who have to sit through months of excruciating testimony to render a verdict in criminal trials.

Karen Brassard and her husband were caught in a blast of shrapnel during the Boston Marathon bombing. But after 30 guilty verdicts were read Wednesday, she shared her worries about the 12 people sitting in the jury box.

“To see everything that they’ve seen, nobody should have to see,” Brassard told CBS. “I’m concerned for them and I’m grateful for them.”

Though not highly-publicized, there is assistance available to jurors in King and Pierce Counties.

Judy Snow is a licensed mental health counselor and serves as the jury ‘debriefer’ for Pierce County Superior Court. She helps jury members transition back to normal life after an intense trial.

“Jury duty can be a very traumatic event for many,” Snow said. “The judicial process itself that assures a fair trial unfortunately creates an environment that is counter to mental health.”

This is partly because a normal part of the healing process is temporarily off-limits to jurors.

Jurors who view graphic testimony, images, and video of serious crimes are not allowed to discuss anything during the trial, even with their closest family members.

“So these horrific images have time to embed themselves with the individual, and they’re not able to address them at times for significant periods, until the trial is over,” said Sue Covey, a clinical social worker who helped develop the King County jury debriefing program in the 1990s.

In her work with jurors, Covey sees the impact of forensic images lasting long after the verdict. “They’ll call and say ‘I can’t get these thoughts out of my head.'”

She also speaks to family members who have a hard time understanding what jurors go through.

“They just want them to get on with their life, and they can’t do it,” Covey said.

Jury members often serve as an emotional support network for each other during deliberations in serious criminal trials.

But once the verdict is read and the judge thanks them for their service, that network is disbanded.

“They’ve had to make a weighty decision, they’ve had all these emotions, and now they’re being relieved of their duty,” Snow said.

Sue Covey employs the same strategies to help juries cope as she does responding to high profile critical incidents.

“[I] normalize their reactions, give them some tools on how to cope, let them know what things they might expect in the next few days, and even some resources if things don’t stabilize for them.”

Rarely, juror trauma can be worsened in the deliberation room when all 12 members cannot agree on the guilt or innocence of a defendant.

Judy Snow recalled one very contentious debriefing after a hung jury.

“The anger was palpable. Jurors felt that they let the judge down. That they let the system down by not reaching a verdict.”

Covey emphasized a hostile debriefing is not the norm.

“They’re always amazed how 12 strangers can come together. ‘How is it that we can all come together like this and reach such a significant decision?'”

Debriefers agree that jurors take every piece of evidence very seriously and verdicts are never reached lightly.

“They probably have never listened so well and so intently in their entire lives,” Covey said. “It’s not ever a celebratory decision. They realize even the defendant is a human being.”

Both professionals I spoke to said serving on a jury can be a life-changing process that has inspired people to volunteer with victims of violence, or feel a new-found gratitude for family and friends.

The availability of debriefing programs varies across the nation, county by county.

When a Texas court called Covey to consult on their new program, she said they were inspired by a mother sitting in the courtroom during the trial for her own daughter’s murder.

“This mother, who had now lost her daughter, looked at the jurors and had empathy, concern, compassion for them, and worry about what they’re going through,” Covey said.