Advantages and disadvantages of Juries- Paper 1

Question 1

ADV: Public confidence due to trial by peers

Answer 1

• D is being judged by ordinary members of the public rather than just one legal expert
• survey by the law society showed that 80% of those asked would prefer a jury to a judge or magistrate
• this shows support and agreement within the justice system, suggesting that it actually works

Question 2

ADV: Jury equity (fairness)

Answer 2

• jurors can decide a verdict based on what they think is morally right, they do not have to follow the law if they believe it to be unfair
• R v Owen the Jury sympathised with D and felt he had already been punished enough so found him not guilty even though the evidence suggested he was guilty
• good because juries can make fair and just decisions based on their conscience whereas a judge would always have to apply the law

Question 3

ADV: Secrecy

Answer 3

• contempt of court act 18981 says its an offence to share discussions from the jury room, they also do not have to justify their verdict
• research shows that jurors do appear to discuss evidence in detail and take the standard of proof very seriously
• if discussions were made public, jurors would not want to be as open and honest and may feel pressured into wrong decisions, and less people will want to serve

Question 4

ADV: no personal bias

Answer 4

• jury members cannot know anyone involved in the case and will therefore not have any personal bias against those involved
• R v Wilson & Sprason the wife of a prison officer overseeing D, was not allowed to sit on the jury
• this should ensure decisions are based purely on the evidence in court and justice is achieved

Question 5

DISADV: perverse decisions

Answer 5

• they do not have any training and so they may be ignoring the law and basing their decision on their conscience
• R v Owen D was definitely guilty but was allowed to go free as jurors felt bad for him
• surely this defeats the purpose of the law if the jury can just ignore it whenever they want, it also denied D the right to a fair trial

Question 6

DISADV: influence of modern technology

Answer 6

• information about cases and Ds are widely available on the internet and may be discussed on local networking sites
• in 2020 12% of jurors in high profile cases admitted to using the internet; this was the problem in AG v Dallas and has led to criminal courts and justice act 2015
• It is hard to stop the jury using the internet at home and not all info online is reliable meaning details online about the case may prejudice the jury and this goes against the oath and affirmation

Question 7

DISADV: secrecy

Answer 7

• contempt of court act makes it a crime to discuss anything gone on in the jury room; they are also not required to justify any decisions
• R v Young the jury used a ouija board to ask the v who the killer was and they ended up finding D guilty (although it was later quashed when this came out)
• the secrecy is then bas as we can’t see if the jury re actually using the evidence or just random information/ prejudice

Question 8

DISADV: risk of bias

Answer 8

• may be because some people find certain jobs less honest, i.e. a priest vs a salesman
• in Sander v UK it was shown that members of a jury were making openly racist remarks and jokes about D in their trial and it was held that this went against D’s right for a fair trial
• this means justice is not being achieved as it is hard to know if people have any internal bias