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Juries Flashcards

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1
Q

When were juries introduced?

A

Magna Carta 1215 – right to be tried by a jury of your peers.

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2
Q

What did Bushell’s Case (1610) establish.

A

Jury independence.

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3
Q

Where are juries used?

A

Criminal trials in the Crown Court.

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4
Q

What act lays out the qualifications of a juror?

A

Juries Act 1974

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5
Q

What are the qualifications to be a juror?

A

Aged 18 and 75 inclusive
Registered on the electoral register
An ordinary resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for at least five years since their 13th birthday.

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6
Q

What case made the age increase from 70?

A

Age was increased from 70 in the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.

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7
Q

What is dependable if disqualified due to criminal convictions?

A

Depends on type of sentence and length of prison term.

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8
Q

Criminal conviction wise what permanently disqualifies you?

A

Imprisonment for life, detention for life or custody for life;
Detention during her Majesty’s pleasure or during the pleasure of the Secretary of State;
Imprisonment for public protection or detention for public protection;
An extended sentence; or
A term of imprisonment of five or more years or a term of detention for five or more yea

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9
Q

Criminal convictions wise what disqualifies you for 10 years?

A

At any time in the last 10 years they have served a sentence of imprisonment;
At any time in the last 10 years had a suspended sentence passed on them; and
At any time in the last 10 years had a community order or other community sentence passed on them.

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10
Q

What happens if you are on bail in criminal proceedings?

A

You are disqualified.

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11
Q

How much can a disqualified person be fined if they fail to disclose that fact and turns up for jury service?

A

Up to £5,000

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12
Q

What happens if a person has a mental disorder?

A

Prohibited from being on jury service.

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13
Q

A mentally disordered person is defined in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 as:

A
  1. A person who suffers or has suffered from mental illness, psychopathic disorder, mental handicap or severe mental handicap and because of that:
    Is resident in a hospital or similar institution; or
    Regularly attends for treatment by a medical practitioner.
  2. A person for the time being under guardianship under S. 7 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
  3. A person who, under Part 7 of that Act, has been determined by a judge to be incapable of administering his property and affairs.
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14
Q

What occupations can be excused?

What has the right to apply for discretionary refusal?

A

Full-time serving members of the armed forces (Commanding officer must certify that their absence from duty would be prejudicial to the efficiency of the service)

Discretionary: 
Doctors
Nurses
Pharmacists 
Police officers
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15
Q

What is discretionary refusal?

A

Anyone who has problems which make it very difficult for them to do jury service may ask to be excused or for their period of service to be put back to a later date.

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16
Q

Who can grant a discretionary refusal?

A

The court has a discretion to grant such an excusal but will only do so if there is sufficiently good reason.

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17
Q

What are sufficiently good reasons?

A

Being ill.

Suffering from a disability that makes it impossible for the person to sit as a juror.

Being a mother of a small child.

Examinations or holidays which have been booked prior to the receipt of a jury request.

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18
Q

Where do applications for discretionary refusal need to be made to?

A

Jury Central Summoning Bureau.

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19
Q

In normal situations what are the courts likely to do with a discretionary refusal application?

A

More likely to defer jury service to a more convenient date, rather than excuse the person completely.

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20
Q

Can a person be completely excused?

A

Yes, under extreme circumstances.

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21
Q

Why are these requirements stated under the guidance for summoning officers?

A

Aimed at preventing a high number of discretionary refusals.

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22
Q

What happens if a person is not excused and doesn’t turn up?

A

May be fined up to £1,000 for non-attendance.

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23
Q

What does the Criminal Justice Act 2003 say about Judges, Lawyers and Police Officers, give a case and an argument.

A

Police Officers, Judges and lawyers can sit as a juror.
Argument that this could lead to bias decisions.
R v Abdroikof, R v Green and R v Williamson [2007]
(Circumstantial)

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24
Q

What does lack of capacity mean?

A

A judge at the court may discharge a person from being a juror for lack of capacity to cope with the trial.
Does not understand English adequately
Disability which makes them unsuitable as a juror.
-Blind, and who would be unable to see plans and photographs produced in evidence.
-Deaf is also prevented from sitting as a member of a jury.

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25
Q

Who is responsible for summoning a jury?

A

At each Crown Court there is an official who is responsible for summoning enough jurors to try cases that will be heard in each two-week period.

26
Q

How are names selected?

A

The official will arrange for names to be selected at random from the electoral registers, for the area which the court covers.
This is done through a computer selection at a central office.

27
Q

Why must more than 12 be summoned?

A

Because most courts have more than one courtroom and it will not be known how many of those summonsed are disqualified or may be excused.

28
Q

How many are summoned each fortnight for bigger courts?

A

In the bigger courts more than 150 summons go out each fortnight.

29
Q

Can a juror be expected to stay for longer than 2 weeks?

A

All others are expected to attend for two weeks’ jury service but if the case they are trying goes on for longer than two weeks they will have to stay until the trial is complete.
If it is known to the court that a trial may take a long time they will ask the juror if they can commit to serve for this long period.

30
Q

Who has a right to see the list of potential jurors?

A

Prosecution and Defence.

31
Q

What does vetted mean and give the two appropriate types.

A

Checked for suitability.
There are two types of vetting:
Police check.
Wider background check.

32
Q

Explain what police checks are and give a case example. What is it for and is it covered under the Juries Act 1974?

A

Routine checks are made on prospective jurors to eliminate those disqualified.
This process is not covered under the Juries Act 1974 and as a result underwent scrutiny over the years.
The courts have recognised that jury vetting can be used to disqualify those who carry criminal convictions.
R v Mason [1980]

33
Q

What are wider background checks?

A

A wider check is made on a juror’s background and political affiliations.

34
Q

Who created the guidelines for wider background checks and when was it?

A

The guidelines for politically vetting jurors was developed in 1980 by the Attorney-General and state that political vetting should only be used in exceptional cases involving:
National security where part of the evidence is likely to be given in camera.
Terrorist cases.

35
Q

When can wider background checks only be used?

A

This method of vetting can only be carried out if the Attorney-General has granted permission.

36
Q

Once vetting is complete or if not exercised what will the jurors be divided into?

A

The jurors will be divided into groups of 15 and allocated to a court.

37
Q

At the start of the trial what will the court clerk do?

A

At the start of a trial the court clerk will select 12 out of these 15 jurors at random.

38
Q

What happens if there are not enough jurors?

A

If there are not enough jurors to hear all the cases scheduled for that day in court, there is a special power called ‘praying the talisman’ which allows the court to select any random person off the street who would be qualified to be a juror.

39
Q

Give an example of when Praying the Talisman was used?

A

This is a very uncommon practice, it was used in 1992 at Middlesex Crown Court when half of the jurors failed to turn up for jury service following New Year’s celebrations.

40
Q

What are the rights of the Prosecution and Defence before they are sworn in?

A

They have certain rights to challenge one or more of the jurors.
These are:
To the array.
For cause.
The prosecutions right to stand by jurors.

41
Q

What is to the array and give a case example?

A

This right is granted under S. 5 of the Juries Act 1974 and allows the whole jury to be challenged on the basis that it has been chosen in an unrepresentative or biased way.
R v Fraser [1987]

42
Q

Can a jury which is chosen at random be challenged if it isn’t multi-racial?

A

It has also been suggested that a jury which is chosen in a random order cannot be challenged just because it is not multi-racial.

43
Q

What is for cause and give a case example? What happens if the people are not removed?

A

This involves challenging the right of an individual juror to sit on the jury.
To be successful the challenge must point out a valid reason why the juror should not serve on the jury.
An obvious reason is that the juror is disqualified, but a challenge for cause can also be made if the juror knows or is related to a witness or defendant.
If these people are not removed from the jury there is a risk that any conviction may be quashed.
R v Wilson and R v Sparson (1995)

44
Q

What is right to stand by?

A

This is a right that only the prosecution can exercise.
It allows a juror who has been stood by to be put on a reserves list of potential jurors
They will not be used unless there is not enough other jurors.

45
Q

Does the prosecution need any reason for the right to stand by?

A

The prosecution does not have to give any reason for this but the Attorney-General’s guidelines make it clear that this power should be used sparingly.

46
Q

What plea is a jury used for?

A

Not guilty.

47
Q

How many cases do they hear a year?

A

30,000

48
Q

What does the jury do with the judge?

A

The trial is presided over by a judge and the functions of the trial are split between the judge and the jury.
The judge decides the points of law and the jury decides the facts.

49
Q

What does the judge have the power to do at the end of a trial?

A

At the end of the prosecution case, the judge has the power to direct the jury to acquit the defendant if he or she decides that, in law, the prosecution has not laid out enough evidence against the defendant.
This is called a directed acquittal and occurs in approximately 10% of cases.

50
Q

What happens if the trial continues?

A

Where the trial continues, the judge will sum up the case at the end, to the jury and direct them on any law involve

51
Q

What happens to decide the verdict?

A

The jury retire to a private room and make the decision on the guilt or innocence of the accused in secret.
Initially the jury must try to come to a unanimous verdict, i.e. one on which they all agree.

52
Q

What must the judge do regarding the verdict, give the case?

A

The judge must accept the jury verdict, even if he or she does not agree with it, see Bushell’s Case.

53
Q

Does the jury have to give a reason for their decision?

A

No.

54
Q

When are majority verdicts used?

A

after a while the jury have not reached a verdict the judge can call them back into the courtroom and direct them that the court will now accept a majority verdict.

55
Q

What are majority verdicts?

A

Majority verdicts must be on a ratio of either 11:1 or 10:2 in favour of guilty or not guilty, a jury can not go below nine.

56
Q

When were majority verdicts allowed from?

A

1967

57
Q

When can the majority verdict system also be used?

A

This system can also be used where a juror has had to leave the panel due to an illness or even death.

58
Q

Why were majority verdicts introduced?

A

Majority verdicts were introduced because of the fear of ‘jury nobbling.’ When a jury had to be unanimous, only one member had to be bribed to cause a ‘stalemate’ in which the jury were unable to reach a decision.

59
Q

Who will present the majority verdict and how?

A

If a majority verdict is given the foreman of the jury will present to the court the majority number, e.g. 10:2 guilty.

60
Q

Is the discussion secret?

A

Yes, the jury discussion takes place in secret and there can be no inquiry into how the jury reached it verdict.

61
Q

What does the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 say about secrecy?

A

Make it a criminal offence to intentionally obtain, disclose or solicit any particulars of statements made, opinions expressed, arguments advanced or votes cast by members of a jury in the course of their deliberations in any legal proceedings.

62
Q

When is disclosure allowed?

A

Disclosure is only allowed in situations where it is in the interests of justice, such as reporting jury misconduct.

Law (34 decks)

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