Juries - POS Flashcards
What are the four positives
Democratic
Jury Equity
Secrecy of the Jury Room
Impartial
Democratic
inspires public confidence in system
represents views of the public, Lord Devlin said use of jury is ‘the lamp that shows that freedom lives’
Also inspires faith in criminal justice system as it is seen as a way of gov restricting their powers
Jury equity
They can make whatever decision they think is fair
Was seen in the case of Colston Four where they thought they shouldn’t be punished
Goes against legal principles - should be up to judge to pass lenient sentences
Secrecy of the Jury Room
Final discussions must be done in private decreasing chance of influences
Allows them to not be in fear of public scrutiny and allows them to exercise jury equity if they want to
Can lead to unfair cases such as Young where they used a Ouija board to ask the dead victim who killed them
Impartial
Supposed to be impartial and seen as fairer as judged by their ‘equals’
A pick of 12 random people also minimises the chance of prejudice or discrimination, whereas judges are criticised for lack of diversity
In addition, judges can become ‘case hardened’ due to seeing so many cases and therefore potentially pass a harsher sentence that may lack empathy in the situation
