+/- Of Using Juries Flashcards
What are the 4 Advantages of Using Juries?
•Jury Equity
•Public Confidence
•Secrecey
•Impartiality
What are the 4 Disadvantages of using Juries?
•Perverse Decisions
•Influence (media,news,internet)
•Secrecy (Lack of understanding)
•Bias
Describe Jury Equity as an advantage.
•Juries don’t have to provide reasonings for their verdicts so they can make decisions based off of their idea of fairness.
•This was established in Bushells Case 1670.
•In Kronlid, women damaged a plane to prevent it from being used in war, the jury acquitted them despite them clearly being legally at fault.
•Blythe, a man acquitted of supplying his ill wife with cannabis.
Describe Perverse Decisions as a disadvantage.
•Perverse decisions can be reached by the juries.
•Juries have acquitted people despite them being clearly guilty.
•In Owen a man was acquitted for murder after killing the man who had killed his son, despite him being legally wrong which is viewed as perverse and unfair. Similarly, in Kronlid, women were acquitted of damaging planes as they were preventing them from being used in war.
Describe the promotion of Public Confidence as an advantage?
•Trial by jury supports the longstanding principle of Trial By Peers established by the Magna Carta in 1215.
•Strong objections raised in recent years to withdraw the right to trial by jury for minor theft.
•Justice is seen to be done as members of society are actively playing a role in it.
•LORD DEVLIN said juries are the “lamp that shows freedom lives”
Describe Influence as a disadvantage.
•Ordinary citizens are likely influenced
•Media can influence the jury such as in case Taylor and Taylor, two defendant sisters were allowed to appeal their conviction for murder as the media published misleading pictures of the sisters which may have influenced the jury.
•The Internet can influence the jury, as jurors can research the case which can result in a costly retrial, and even jurors ending up in prison.
•Theodora Dallas was a juror who researched the defendants past on the internet was imprisoned for 6 months.
•In Fraill, a woman contacted the defendant by Facebook.
•Jury Nobbling may occur , jurors being intimidated and threatened by defendants friends and family,
Secrecy as an advantage of using juries.
•Secrecy in the jury room means everything that is said in the jury room must not be disclosed outside of it. The •Contempt Court Act 1981 makes it a criminal offence to disclose the juries deliberations.
•Jurors are less stressed regarding making their verdict and free from pressure during their discussions.
•Theodora Dallas, Fraill
Secrecy as a disadvantage of using juries.
•Lack of understanding as discussion are in secret and it is not possible to see if the jury understood the issues in the case and came to their conclusions for the right reasons.
•Ministry of Justice Report 2010 found;
2/3 jurors do not fully understand the legal directions given them to by judges when they retire to consider their verdicts.
•2010 Cheryl Thomas published “Are Jurors Fair” report and found only 31% of jurors understood the instructions given to them.
Impartiality as a advantage of using juries.
•As they are not connected to anyone involved in the case.
•The process of random selection used to pick jurors such result in a representative sample of society which should therefore lead to an impartial jury.
•The jurors different biases will cancel one another’s out as they have different culture beliefs stereotypes opinions.
Types of Challenges (Impartiality)
•Challenge “to the array” on the basis that the juror has been chosen in a biased way.
•Challenge can be made “for cause” because a juror knows or is related to the defendant or a witness.
•The prosecution may ask a juror to “stand by” .
•No one individual is responsible for the final verdict made which also decreases the chances of a bias decision
Bias as a disadvantage of using juries.
•Jurors could have prejudices which can impact their decision making when reaching a verdict.
•Racist, Sexist, Homophobic.
•IN SANDER, A juror wrote a note to the judge complaining that other members of the jury were making openly racist remarks.
•Juries are often criticised for their high acquittal rates.
•A dominant personality and unfairly influence others remembers of the jury and dictate decisions made, therefore the verdict made would be biased and not representative of the whole jury.
