The Jury's Role In Criminal Cases Flashcards
When are juries used in the Crown Court?
for cases where the defendant has pleaded not guilty
how many times are a jury used in the Crown Court per year?
a jury is used in about 20,000 cases each year
What is the split function?
the trial is presided over by a judge and the functions split between the judge and the jury
What do the judge and jury do in a split function ?
The Judge decides points of law
The Jury decides the facts
At the end of the prosecution case, what power does the judge have to do ?
Judge has the power to direct the jury to acquit the defendant if he decides that, in law, the prosecutions evidence has not made out a case against the defendant
What is directed acquittal?
This is where the judge has the power to direct the jury to acquit the defendant if he decides that, in law, the prosecution evidence has not made out a case against the defendant
In what percentage of cases does directed acquittals occur?
in c10% of cases
If there is no need for a directed acquittal, the trial continues and the judge will sum up the case at the end, directing the jury of any law involved. What does the jury then do?
The jury then retires to a private room and makes the decision on the guilt or innocence of the accused in secret
How must the jury come to a decision?
- must try to come to a unanimous verdict, all agree
- Judge must accept decision
What case does the long-established principle go back to for judges accepting the juries decision even if he does not agree with it ?
Bushell’s Case 1670
What happens if after 2 hours the jury have not reached a verdict ?
The judge can call them back into the courtroom and direct them that he can now accept a majority verdict
From what year have majority verdicts been allowed?
1967
Where there is a jury of 12, what can the majority be?
10-2 or 11-1
What happens to the decision if one jury member has left due to death or illness?
then only one can disagree with the verdict
What number can a jury not go below?
a jury can not go below nine
Why were majority verdicts introduced?
because of the fear of ‘jury nobbling’ through bribes or intimidation by associates of the defendant
What could happen when a jury ad to be unanimous?
only one member had to bribed to cause a ‘stalemate’ in which the jury was unable to reach a decision
What did majority voting stop other than bribes of verdicts?
stopped high acquittal rates in jury trials
What must the jury foreman do if a verdict is reached through a majority verdict?
must announce the numbers both agreeing and disagreeing with het verdict in open court
What is the provision in 17(3) of the Juries Act 1974 aimed at?
aimed at making sure that the jury has come to a legal majority and not such as 8-4 which is not allowed
What did the Court of Appeal hold in the case of R v Pigg 1983?
That provided the foreman announced the number who had agreed the verdict was within the number allowed fro a majority verdict then the conviction was legal . It does not matter if the foreman was not asked how many disagreed
What percentage of cases are by majority verdicts?
20%
What power makes disclosure of anything that happened in the jury room a contempt of court which is a criminal offence ?
s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981
What does s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 do?
makes disclosure of anything that happened in the jury room a contempt of court which is a criminal offence
What is it a contempt to do ?
- to obtain
- disclose or solicit any particulars of statements made, opinions expressed or votes cast by a jury in the course of their deliberations
Why was s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 brought in?
because newspapers were paying jurors large sums of money for ‘their story’
What is a disadvantage of s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 which creates secrecy for jury deliberations?
it is difficult to discover whether the jurors have understaff the evidence in complex cases
