Juries: Advantages

Question 1

What are the advantages of juries?

Answer 1

Public confidence, jury equity, open system of justice, secrecy of the jury room and impartiality.

Question 2

How is the public’s confidence an advantage?

Answer 2

• Juries are considered one of the fundamentals of a democratic society.
• They are “the lamp that shows that freedom lives” according to Lord Devlin.
• Trial by jury is traditional and very old.
• Thus the public has confidence in its impartiality and fairness.

Question 3

How is jury equity an advantage?

Answer 3

• Since jurors aren’t legal experts they aren’t bound to follow the precedent of past cases or Acts of Parliament.
• They don’t have to give reasons for their verdict.
• They can decide cases on their idea of ‘fairness’ - this is known as ‘jury equity’.

Question 4

How is an open system of justice and advantage?

Answer 4

• Juries are viewed to make the legal system more open.
• Justice is seen to be done as members of public play a key role and the whole process is public.
• It helps to keep the law clear as it has to be explained to the jury.
• Keeping the law clear also helps the defendant to understand their case more easily.

Question 5

How is the secrecy of the jury room an advantage?

Answer 5

• Enables the jury to be free from pressure in its discussion.
• They are protected from external influences.
• Allows jurors to ignore the stricter letter of the law.

Question 6

How is impartiality an advantage?

Answer 6

• Not connected to anyone in the case.
• Results in a cross-section of society.
• Jurors have different prejudices that will cancel out the others’ biases.
• Ensures no one individual is responsible for the verdict.
• Jurors only sit for two weeks to ensure they don’t become case-hardened.