Wednesday September 8th 2010
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Citizens’ Jury
The citizens’ jury is a method developed in America and England (Citizens’ Jury) which the Danish Board of Technology adopted in 2004. Citizens’ jury is a tool for including citizens’ attitudes in the political decision-making process and technological debate. The method gives politicians and interested parties the opportunity of gaining insight into a panel of citizens’ – the citizen jury’s – attitudes towards a technological topic. The media, opinion polls and interest group declarations continually serve up public opinion to politicians. The citizens’ jury offers politicians a chance to gain an insight into citizens’ attitudes towards and considerations about new technology; attitudes which – in contrast to opinion polls – are based on factual information. The idea behind the citizens’ jury is to let a group of citizens, who as far as possible are representative of the population, participate in a process in which they are comprehensively informed about a technological issue, allowed to question leading experts in the field and finally answer certain preset questions. The jury is not required to achieve a consensus regarding the answers it gives and in closing, the jury can vote on different possible answers, which can be formulated by the jury itself.Purpose of the method The purpose of a citizens’ jury is to acquire an informed, well-conceived and constructive expression of citizens’ opinions. Politicians and the relevant interested parties must gain an insight into the values, attitudes, priorities and ideas of citizens in relation to a current technological issue. Who participates in the various roles Project management The Danish Board of Technology project management team consists of a project manager and a project assistant who is responsible for planning, implementation and jury follow-up. In addition, an information project manager, responsible for press contact and strategy, is assigned to the project, as is a secretary. Background group A background group is formed by experts and interested parties in the field. Its task – in collaboration with the Danish Board of Technology – is to ensure that the technical content in the project process is both balanced and substantial. Among other things, the background group helps to formulate introductory material and questions to the citizens’ jury as well as selecting the experts who are to face the jury. Journalist In addition, a freelance journalist is employed to write the introductory material based on the directions of the background group. Process consultant A process consultant is hired to help control the actual jury proceedings themselves. Citizens’ jury The actual jury comprises 16 citizens, who as far as possible must be representative of the population. Naturally, representationalism is impossible in such a small group but the idea is to seek a carefully composed jury so that as far as possible it represents a cross-section of the public in terms of age, gender and employment. This composition is achieved by sending out 2,000 invitations to a randomly selected section of the public. A representative jury is then formed on the basis of the received response. The jury’s task is to answer a series of preset questions regarding the topic; the questions having been formulated by the Danish Board of Technology and the background group. Prior to answering these questions, the citizens’ jury will be informed about the issue and the related problems. Experts In connection with the actual jury days, a number of experts and opinion-makers are summoned and then questioned by the citizens’ jury. These include professional experts as well as other players and interested parties. There must be a balanced mix of experts to ensure that all relevant aspects of the issue are described and discussed. Procedure description In collaboration with the background group, the Board organises an initial workshop, whereby a number of invited experts and opinion-makers discuss which topics and questions the citizens’ jury should address. On the basis of workshop and background group discussions, a freelance journalist prepares the introductory material which describes the issue and the problems in an objective and balanced way. The introductory material is sent to citizens prior to the citizen jury hearings. The actual hearings last 5 days, from noon on Thursday through to and including the following Monday. A concluding conference is then held at Christiansborg. The first 3 days are primarily taken up with citizen jury meetings with experts and interested parties, who hold presentations on the issue and answer questions from the jury. On the fourth day, the citizens’ jury discusses the set questions and subsequently answers them. A feature of the method is to highlight disagreement, and in closing, the jury votes on the various answer options, which they can choose to formulate in their own words. The results are collated in a final document at the end of the fourth day. On the Monday – the last day of the jury – a concluding conference is held with an official presentation and distribution of the jury’s final document. Representatives from the political parties, together with selected, key stakeholders, are invited to the concluding conference to comment on the jury's findings and discuss them with the citizens' jury. In addition, the press, interested parties as well as the experts who were involved in the actual jury hearings are invited to the conference. At the conference, citizens present the results of their votes, their arguments, conditions and recommendations to those attending the conference. Following this, a politician from each party holds a short presentation in which they give their reaction to the work of the citizens’ jury. Direct results The most direct result of a citizens’ jury is the final document which includes answers to the preset questions. The final document contains the final result of the jury’s work on the issue, including all arguments, conditions and recommendations which the jury has formulated, as well as the vote result. The final document appears in a report which also contains the expert presentations the jury has heard together with a printed record of the debate that took place between the citizens’ jury, politicians and interested parties at the concluding conference. Indirect results The citizens’ jury can help to focus attention and knowledge on important political issues about which politicians and the general public lack sufficient understanding. It can also give politicians and interested parties an important indication about citizens’ attitudes towards a given technology. Presentation of results The report is sent to the relevant decision-makers, interested parties, experts and other relevant players in the subject area. In addition, the Danish Board of Technology also publishes a newsletter, in which the most important debates and answers are described. Suitability The method is particularly well suited to current subjects of relevance to society, from which politicians and interested parties require an indication about the direction the population wishes a particular technological development to take. Brief facts Price DKK 400,000 The price is excl. the salaries of the Danish Board of Technology project management team. Examples of the method within the framework of the Danish Board of Technology New genetically-manipulated plants – new debate (2005) Last update: 07-02-2006
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