15: Lay People: Jury

• Jury = body of 12 people chosen randomly to decide the truth of the factual evidence in legal proceedings

  Magna Carta - 'A person has the right to be tried by his peers'
• Jury's Independence:

  • Jury's decision is independent from outside influence/pressure
  • Bushell's case 1670 - judge threatened the jurt that if a verdict isn't given soon, they won't be given food/drink
  • R V Mckenna - Judge said that if the jury do not deliver a verdict in 10 minutes, they will be locked up all night
• Jury's role: Courts

  Crown Court

  • body of 12 people
  • decide verdict (guilty or not)
  • Reach unanimous verdict (all agree) or majority verdict (10:2, 11:1)

  County/High Court:

  • body of 8 or 12
  • Dual role - decide on liability and decide the amount of compensation

  Coroner's Court

  • Body of 7-11
  • decide cause of death in circumstances of: death in custody, due to omission by police officer, poisoning/disease
• Jury's Role: Courts

  In Personal Injury cases:

  • Sit on the KBD of High court
  • Rare for jury application to be granted
  • Ward V James - In PI matters, they should be heard by a judge alone because such cases involve making difficult assessments as to damages and complex cases
  • Singh V London Underground 1990 - Singh injured in a fire, was suing London underground. Jury refused as they wouldn't understand the complexity
• Jury's Role: Criminal cases

  Split function: in the courtroom, the judge is the master of the law, jury is the master of the facts

  Directional Aquittal: at the end of the prosecution case, the judge has the power to order the jury to acquit if there's no case to answer

  If trial continues, judge will sum up to the jury at the end, including:

  • Summary of each side's evidence
  • Direct jury to relevant law
  • Direct jury to burden/standard of proof
  • Direct jury to select jury foreman
• Jury's Role Criminal cases:

  • Jury goes to private, deliberation room to deliberate their verdict. Must come to a unanimous verdict of majority verdict (may not be accepted. Jury must have had 2 hours 10 minutes deliberation)
  • If jury cannot reach a verdict after time, judge will give a Watson Direction where judge re-emphasises to the jury their duty to deliberate and reach an agreement if possible. Must be worded carefully to ensure there is no pressure
• Jury Qualifications:

  Set out under the Juries Act 1974 and amended by Criminal Justice Act 2003. Jurors must be:

  • Aged 18-70
  • On electoral register
  • Resident in the UK, Channel Island, Ise of Man for at least 5 years since age 13

  
  

  Jurors must not be:

  • Mentally disordered
  • Disqualified
• Disqualification:

  Permanently Disqualified

  • Imprisonment for life/public protection/5+ years
  • Currently on bail

  Disqualified for 10 years:

  • Served prison in the last 10 years
  • Had suspended sentence/community order passed in last 10 years

  Failing to disclose disqualification can result in a fine of up to £5000

  May be discharged due to lack of capacity e.g insufficient understanding of English, disability making them unable to serve
• Who's excused from Jury Service:

  Criminal Justice Act 2003 abolished all previous exclusions: everyone eligible must serve

  Only Members of the Armed Forces are excused

  Lawyers, police officers and judges also have to serve (previously ineligible, could be biased or use superior knowledge)

  Discretionary excusals - pregnant, family death, student sitting exam
• Who's excused from Jury Service:

  Lord Woolf issued guidelines on judges called for service:

  • Civil duty to serve
  • Only excused in extreme circumstances
  • Judge connections should be raised
  • At their discretion whether they tell other jurors about their position
  • Must avoid the temptation to connect judicial direction
• Jury Summoning:

  • Each Crown Court has an official person responsible for summoning enough jurors to cover all cases (done randomly by a computer from electoral register at the Central Juror Summoning Bureau
  • Computer gathers potential jurors, then the jury for a particular case is chosen by a random ballot in open court. 15 selected jurors are chosen then court clerk selects 12 from the list randomly
  • 'praying a talesman' = if not enough jurors, anyone who is qualified to serve from passerby or local businesses
• Jury Vetting = process of checking the suitability of a juror by checking the background of theirs


  2 Types:

  1. Routine Police Checks - police checks may be made to eliminate those disqualified
  2. Wider background checks/political vetting - checks jurors' background and political affiliations (The Attorney General published guidelines as to when political vetting can occur as it will require AG's permission before conducted: where issues of national security are involved, terrorist cases
• Challenging Jury:


  Before each juror is sworn in, both the defence and prosecution have the right to challenge a jury panel. 3 challenges can be made:

  1. The challenge to the array under s5 Juries Act 1974 - a challenge to the jury that it has been chosen in an unrepresentative way (R V Ford - a jury has been chosen randomly but weren't multi-racial. Cannot be challenged as it was randomly selected)
• Challenging Jury:

  2. The challenge for cause - challenging an individual juror the right to sit on the jury, Challenge must point out a valid reason why the juror shouldn't serve

  3. Right of Stand By - prosecution only, allowing juror that has been stood by the prosecution to be placed at the back of the line of potential jurors and therefore only used if not enough jurors
• Jury advantages:

  • Public confidence 'Trial by jury is the lamp that shows that freedom lives' Lord Devlin
  • Jury Equity = fairness
  • Provides an open system of justice (done by ordinary people)
  • Secrecy of the jury room - free from pressure
  • Impartiality - juries randomly selected
• Jury disadvantages:

  • Jurors could misunderstand/misinterpret legal words/phrases (R V Schofield, jurors didn't know meaning of affray)
  • Jurors may be reluctant to serve
  • Media influence
  • Juror's prejudice
  • Distressing nature of some evidence (disturbing murder evidence)
  • Secrecy of jury room (may be discussing the verdict)
  • Perverse verdict = when juries acquit the guilty and convict the innocent