Rethink has launched a campaign to put pressure on the government to keep its promise and reconsider the 1974 Juries Act which states that a person who is receiving medical treatment for a mental health illness cannot serve on a jury. 

Their “Don’t Count Me Out” jury counter started at 50,000 people already considered unfit for jury service on mental health grounds, and will go up by one an hour - the rate at which individuals are excluded - until the government delivers on its promise to publish a consultation.

In an open letter to Jack Straw,  Rethink's Chief Executive Paul Jenkins challenges the unexplained decision not to hold the consultation, which will means that thousands more people will be unfairly excluded from jury service.  Even people taking medication for a minor mental health illness are considered unfit to serve.  

Comedian and writer Stephen Fry is among those who  support the campaign.

"There are thousands of people with mental health problems who are willing and perfectly capable of serving on a jury but who find themselves rejected solely because they see a doctor from time to time for support or medication. Exclusion purely on the grounds of treatment for a mental health problem is unfair and discriminatory, and eliminates a whole tranche of law abiding, competent individuals who should be entitled to play their part in the justice system."

To read more about the campaign click here.