Jury System

Question 1

Advantages of Jury System:

Answer 1

Provides a system of trial by peers- The members of the jury are picked randomly from the public and are a cross-section of the community.
Provides an opportunity for the general community to be involved- Jury system allows ordinary people to be involved in the legal system by being part of a jury and seeing for themselves how the legal system works.
Reflects community values- People on the jury bring community values into the decision-making process.
Spreads the responsibility of the decision over more shoulders- The use of the jury allows the responsibility of the decision to be spread over more shoulders, rather than being placed solely on those of a judge.

Question 2

Disadvantages of the jury system:

Answer 2

Not a true cross-section of the community- Trial by peers is the essential element of the jury, but juries are not always a true cross-section of the community because some people are unable to serve on a jury, this being if you are excused, ineligible, disqualified etc.
Difficult for members to understand complicated evidence- Public are put into a position where they have to listen to complicated evidence and make a decision of great importance to the parties involed.
Jurors may be influenced by arguments of clever barristers- Barristers play on the emotions of the jury and will often make powerful closing speeches which can cause jurors to put aside logical arguments.

Question 3

How is a jury empaneled?

Answer 3

1. People are selected at random from the electoral roll.
2. The selected people are required by law to complete and a return a questionnaire to the Jury’s office.
3. At this point some people will be deemed ineligible, disqualified and excused.
4. People may be ineligible to serve on a jury because of their occupation. This includes police officers, legal practitioners, public servants employed in law enforcement etc. This also includes people that have an intellectual disability, a mental illness and a physical disability.
5. People can be disqualified from the jury service for what they have done, for example because they have been in prison, been convicted and sentenced for an offence within the last 2 years or they are currently charged with an indictable offence.
6. People can also apply to the Juries Commissioner to be excused from jury duty if they have a good reason ( ill health, excessive inconvince to get to the court, having to care for dependants.

Question 4

Eligible ->

Answer 4

These jurors will now form a jury pool. Groups of potential jurors will be selected from this pool to form a jury panel and taken to a court room for final selection.
A courtroom selection process then begins where the name of each juror is read out, and the juror is asked to walk from the jury panel to the jury box. Both sides are permitted 6 (perpetratory challenges) with no reason. After this the parties have an unlimited number of challenges with legitimate reason. If. Halls bed succesfuly, the juror returns to the jury pool.

Question 5

3 reforms for Jury system

Answer 5

1. Instead of having jurors of the general public, we could replace the, with professional jurors who are experienced in the courtroom and know how to deal with barristers and specific cases.
2. In the system of challenges, instead of each side having 6 peremptory challenges, they should receive 3 as 6 challenges means that jurors can affect the cases result.
3. When jurors give there guilty or not guilty verdict, they should be required to provide a reason for their verdict. This here will expose corruption and clarify and cut down appeals.

Question 6

What is a role of the jury?

Answer 6

The role of the jury in a criminal case is to deliver a verdict to decide whether the accused is guilty or not, based on evidence presented to them in court. (They must listen to all evidence)