1A.2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Juries

Question 1

Advantages of juries

Answer 1

• Public confidence
• Jury equity
• Secrecy of the jury room (protects jury from pressure)
• Open system of justice
• Impartiality

Question 2

Disadvantages of juries

Answer 2

• Perverse decisions
• Secrecy
• Jurors and the internet
• Racial bias
• Media influence
• Jury tampering
• Strain

Question 3

[Advantage of juries]

Public confidence

Answer 3

A trial by jury is a fundamental part of a democratic society. Due to the longstanding tradition of trial by jury, people have confidence in the impartiality and fairness of a jury trial.
“A jury trial is the lamp that shows freedom lives”. – Lord Devlin

• Lammy review (2017)
• “Are Juries Fair?” report (2010)

Question 4

[Advantage of juries]

Jury equity

Answer 4

Jurors are not legal experts and therefore they are not bound to follow the precedent of past cases/acts of parliaments. They also do not need to give reasons for their verdicts. It is therefore possible for them to decide cases on the idea of fairness.

For example: Ponting’s cases (1984)

Question 5

[Advantage of juries]

Ponting’s case

Answer 5

A civil servant was charged under the Official Secrets Act when he leaked information to an MP about the Falkland’s war.
At trial, the jury refused to convict him despite the judge ruling there was no defence.

This case prompted the government to reconsider the law and to amend the act.

Question 6

Ponting’s case (1984)

Answer 6

A civil servant was charged under the Official Secrets Act when he leaked confidential information. He pleaded not guilty at this trial, claiming his actions was in the public interest. The jury refused to convict him despite the judge ruling there was no defence. This case them prompted the government to reconsider the law and to amend the act.

Question 7

[Advantage of juries]

Secrecy of the jury room

Answer 7

The secrecy of the jury room allows jurors to be protected from outside influences when deciding on their verdict.
People may be less willing to serve on a jury if they knew that their discussions could be made public, therefore encourages more people to participate.

• R v Connor and Rollock (2004)

Question 8

[Advantage of juries]

Open system of justice

Answer 8

Justice is seen to be done as members of the public are involved in a key role and the whole process is public.
It also helps to keep the law clearer because points need to be explained to the jury, this helps the defendant to understand the case more easily.

• Lammy review (2017)
• “Are Juries Fair?” report (2010)

Question 9

[Advantage of juries]

Impartiality

Answer 9

Impartiality means that the jurors are not connected to anyone in the case.
The process of random selection means a cross-section of society can cancel out each other’s natural bias.

• Lammy review (2017)
• “Are Juries Fair?” report (2010)

Question 10

[Disadvantage of juries]

Perverse decisions

Answer 10

A perverse decision is one which ignores the evidence and gives a wrong decision. They can be given by juries. Cases where this happened include:
* R v Randle and Pottle (1991)
* R v Kronlid and others (1996)

Question 11

R v Randle and Pottle (1991)

Answer 11

Ds were charged with helping a spy to escape from prison to flee to Russia. The prosecution did not occur until 25 years after the escape, when they wrote about what they had done. The jury acquitted them, possibly to protest the long-time lapse between the offence and the prosecution.

Question 12

R v Kronlid and others (1996)

Answer 12

Ds admitted to causing £1.5m in damages to a plane. They pleaded to not guilty to charges of criminal damage on the basis that they were preventing the plane from being sent to Indonesia where it would have been used to attack the people of East Timor. The jury acquitted them.

Question 13

[Disadvantage of juries]

Secrecy

Answer 13

The secrecy of the jury room means there is no way of knowing if the jury understood the case and came to the decision for the right reasons.
It can allow jurors to deliver unpopular verdicts with the public.
It also allows jurors the freedom to ignore the strict letter of the law.

• R v Mirza (2004)
• R v Connor and Rollock (2004)

Question 14

R v Mirza (2004)

Answer 14

D needed an interpreter to help him in the trial. During the trial, the jury sent notes to the judge, asking why the D needed an interpreter. He was convicted on a 10:2 majority. Six days after the jury delivered the verdict, one juror wrote “there had been a theory that the use of an interpreter was a ‘ploy’”. She had been shouted down when she objected and reminded her fellow jurors of the judge’s directions.

Question 15

R v Connor and Rollock (2004)

Answer 15

A member of the jury sent a letter to the judge stating the jury failed to consider the evidence properly as they were looking for a quick verdict. Held: Confidentiality was essential to the proper functioning of the jury process.

Question 16

[Disadvantage of juries]

Decisions for the wrong reasons

Answer 16

The courts will inquire into the conduct of the jury in coming to its verdict:
1) Where they had used another method to make their decision.

2) Where extraneous material has been introduced into a jury room. – For example, telephone calls in/out of the jury room, information from the internet was used in deliberations, papers mistakenly included in the set of papers given by the court to the jury.

• R v Young (1995)
• R v Karakaya (2005)

Question 17

[Disadvantage of juries]

R v Young (1995)

Answer 17

D charged with the murder of two people. The jury had to stay in a hotel overnight as it had not reached a verdict on the first day. At the hotel, four of the jurors held a séance using a Ouija board to try to contact the dead victims and to ask them who killed them. The next day, the jury returned a guilty verdict.

However, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction when they found out and ordered a retrial. The Court of Appeal was able to inquire what happened as it had occurred in a hotel and was not part of the jury room deliberations.

Where they had used another method to make their decision.

Question 18

[Disadvantage of juries]

R v Karakaya (2005)

Answer 18

D was accused of rape. A juror brought a print-out of an internet search (they did at home) into the jury room. The conviction was quashed because they used outside information during their deliberations. A retrial was ordered, and the defendant was acquitted by the jury in the second trial.

Where extraneous material has been introduced into a jury room.

Question 19

[Disadvantage of juries]

Jurors and the internet

Answer 19

Jurors conducting internet research has became more common. A 2010 report “Are Juries Fair?” found that 12% of jurors admitted they had looked on the internet for information about the case they were trying.
This can make the juror be prejudicial towards the defendant.

The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 makes it a criminal offence for a juror to search the internet intentionally for information relevant to the case.

Question 20

Racial Bias

Answer 20

Jurors may have prejudices which can affect the verdict. For example, the juror might be biased against a group of people, such as the police, or someone of a different race or culture.

• Sander v United Kingdom (2000)
• Lammy Review

Question 21

Sander v United Kingdom (2000)

Answer 21

One juror wrote a note to the judge stating, “other jurors had been making openly racist remarks and jokes about the D”. The ECtHR held that the judge should have discharged the jury as there was a clear risk of racial bias and Article 6 ECHR (the right to a fair trial).

Question 22

Lammy Review

Answer 22

Found that juries were consistent in their decision making, irrespective of ethnicity of the defendant. The review found that juries are fairer than using a singular judge or magistrate.

Question 23

Media influence

Answer 23

High profile cases with lots of media coverage can potentially influence jurors.

• R v Taylor and Taylor (1993)

Question 24

R v Taylor and Taylor (1993)

Answer 24

Two sisters were charged with murder. Some newspapers published photos taken from a video which gave a false impression of what happened. The jury convicted the sisters but the judge gave leave to appeal because of the possible influence the picture may have had on the jury. The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions.

Question 25

Vicky Pryce Trial (2013)

Answer 25

Unusually, the jury asked 10 questions to the judge.
These were basic questions that they had already been told the answer to.

Some of the questions asked included:
- Can a juror reach a verdict from evidence not found in court?
- What does “beyond reasonable doubt” mean?
- Would religious conviction (wedding vows) be a good enough reason for a wife to feel she had no choice but to follow what her husband said?

Question 26

R v Twomey and others (2009)

Answer 26

Ds were charged with offences related to a large robbery from a warehouse at Heathrow. There were three trials which collapsed due to “a serious attempt at jury tampering”. The first trial without a jury was approved.

Question 27

High acquittal rates

Answer 27

• Juries are often criticised for acquitting too many defendants.
• 60% of those plead not guilty at the crown court are acquitted.
• However, this figure includes cases where the judge directed an acquittal and therefore does not give an accurate representation of how many juries actually acquit.

Question 28

Strain

Answer 28

Where the jury could experience psychological harm as a result of trying the case.

• R v West (1996)

Question 29

R v West (1996)

Answer 29

Several young women and girls had been murdered by West and her husband. Jurors were offered counselling after the trial to help them cope with the evidence they had seen and heard.