Juries in Criminal Courts

Which case firmly established the independence of the juries?

Bushell’s Case (1670)

• Several jurors refused to convict activist of unlawful assembly

• Trial judge wouldn’t accept this and ordered them to resume deliberations without food or drink

• Jurors persisted their refusal to convict so the court fined and imprisoned them until they could pay the fine

• On appeal they were released and held jurors not to be punished for their verdicts

Which later case also showed Juries independence?

R v Mckenna (1960)

• Judge threatened jury that if they didn’t convict within 10 minutes they would be locked up all night

• They decided guilty, but the conviction was quashed due to the judge’s interference

What are juries?

• Juries decide if the defendant is guilty or not guilty in the crown court

• Juries are used in criminal cases, however only account for about 2% of all criminal trials (As lay magistrates’ do the other 98%)

• They sit in panels of 12

How old must you be to serve on a jury?

18-75 years old

How long does jury duty usually take?

10 Working Days

How many jurors are initially taken into the courtroom?

15

Who selects the first 12 names to vet/challenge?

The Court Clerk

What must jurors do if they do not swear on Holy/Religious books?

Ask for Affirm (No religious reference)

Why might a jury be asked to leave the courtroom by a judge?

If they need to discuss a point of law or fact of the case

Who will summarise the facts of the case and explain the law to the jury?

The Judge

Who can jurors discuss the case with?

Other jurors that were in the case, and only when they are all together

What is the job of the jury’s foreman?

Act as a spokesperson for the jury to tell the judge the verdict

If the defendant is found guilty, who passes the sentence?

The Judge

What are the qualifications for a Jury described in the Juries Act 1974?

• Aged 18-75

• Registered on the electoral roll

• Has lived in the UK for at least 5 years after the age of 13

What 5 things disqualifies a person from being eligible for jury duty, which was outlined in the Criminal Justice Act 2003?

• If a person is on bail

• If a person has been sentenced to imprisonment, detentions

• If a person has been imprisoned, had community orders imposed or suspended sentences on them in the past 10 years

• Mental disorders or mental health problems, and/or has to visit a doctor regularly

• If a judge considered that because of physical disability (deafness) or insufficient understanding of English, they would be unable to perform their duties

What are the 2 ways someone who has been selected for jury duty can get out of it?

• Deferral

• Excusal

What is a Deferral?

• Anyone can apply for a deferral of jury service

• A successful application means that the service will be carried out within the next 12 months

• The application for deferral needs to be a good reason such as: Exams, hospital operation, pre-booked holiday)

• Most applications are granted- but any that aren’t can be appealed to the Head of the Bureau

• It can only be deferred once up to a maximum of 12 months from the original date

What is an Excusal?

A person can be excused from Jury service at any time during the Following 12 months (alternative to deferral)

Only available in exceptional circumstances- Rights to be excused are:

• Had jury duty in the last 2 years

• Full-time members of the armed forces (If commanding officer certifies that absence would harm the efficiency of the force)

• Those aged over 75 years old

• Those whose religious beliefs are incompatible

How are jurors selected?

• Chosen randomly from electoral roll to serve as a jury to a Crown Court reasonably close to them

• The summons is prepared at random by computer and dealt with by the Jury Central Summoning Bureau

• About 150 people are summoned- just in case any are disqualified/excused/deferred

• Jurors must reply, if they ignore their summons, they could be fined up to £1,000

Can Police/Lawyers sit on a jury?

• Lawyers and Police are eligible to serve on juries despite the feeling that this could lead to bias or to a legally well-qualified juror influencing the rest of the jury

• The test to be applied in such cases is:

  • “Whether the fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts, would conclude that there was a real possibility that the tribunal was biased”

  • Hanif V United Kingdom - they can sit if it doesn’t affect impartiality

Can judges’ sit on a jury and do they have to disclose that they are a judge?

• Yes, as it is part of his duty as a private citizen

• Excusal from jury service will only be granted in extreme circumstances

• A judge should defer to a later date if they have judicial commitments at that time

• At a court if a judge knows the presiding judge, or other persons in the case, they should raise this if they consider it could interfere with the responsibilities as a juror

• It is a matter of discretion for an individual juror to disclose that they are a judge or not

• Judges must follow the directions given to the jury by trial judge on the law and should avoid the temptation to correct the guidance that they believe to be inaccurate as this is outside their role

What is meant by vetting?

Once the list of jurors are known, the Prosecution and Defence will list the jurors to pre-trial vetting to challenge the appropriateness of the individuals jurors

What are the 2 types of Vetting?

• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS Check)

• Authorised Jury Checks

What is a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS Check)?

Checks made on prospective jurors to eliminate those who are disqualified

What is a Authorised Jury Check?

• A wider check into a juror’s background and political affiliations

• Should only take place when:

  • In exceptional cases involving national security, where part of the evidence is likely to be given in camera( in secret) such as terrorism cases

  • Vetting can only be carried with the Attorney General’s express permission

What is meant by Challenging?

• The Jurors are usually divided into groups of 15, and allocated to a court.

• At the start of the trail the court clerk will select 12 out of the 15 at random

• Once the clerk has selected the panel of 12 jurors, these jurors come in to the jury box to be sworn in, after this the prosecution/defence can Challenge them

Before the jurors have been sworn in, What are the 2 ways the defence or/and prosecution can challenge them?

• To the Array

• For a cause

What is Challenging, To the Array?

• To challenge the whole jury, on the basis that it has been chosen in an unrepresentative or biased way

  • Used successfully against Romfred Jury at the Old Bailey in 1933 when, 9 out of the 12 jurors were all from Romfred living near each other

What is Challenging, For a Cause?

• This involves challenging the right of an individual juror to sit on the jury

• It must point out a valid reason such as knowing/being related to a witness/defendant (risk as the conviction could be quashed)

  • Seen in R V Wilson, where juror was a wife of a police officer who worked in the prison where D was on remand, D’s conviction was quashed

What is the 3rd type of challenge available only to the Prosecution and what is it?

Prosecution Right to Stand by

• Prosecution wants a potential juror to be on “stand by”-

• Meaning you will not sit on the jury unless the jury list becomes exhausted and stand-bys will be recalled and sworn in

Juries are used about 20,000 times a year, how often do Defendants plead guilty?

2/3 Defendants plead guilty in the Crown Courts

What is meant by Split-Function when explaining the role of the jury?

A trial is presided over by a judge and the functions are the split between the judge and the jury

• The Jury decides the facts

• The Judge decides the points of law

After the Prosecution’s, case, the defence will call any witnesses and put up their case. After the judge will summarise the facts and direct the jury on any points of law.

The jury should then retire into a private room and try come to a unanimous verdict, and the jury will give NO reasoning for their verdict

What is meant by Directed Acquittal?

At the end of the prosecution case, the judge has the power to direct the jury to acquit the defendant, if it is decided that, in law, the prosecution’s evidence has not made it clear about D’s guilt

What is meant by a Majority Verdict?

If, after at least 2 hours (longer where the case involves more defendants), the jury does not come to a unanimous verdict, the judge can call them back into the courtroom and allow a majority verdict

This is where the full jury of 12, the majority can be 10-2 or 11-1

When a D is convicted in a majority, the foreman must announce the agree: disagree number

How do Majority Verdicts work with a jury less than 12?

If the jury has fallen below 12, then only 1 juror can disagree with the verdict

• If there are 11 jurors, the verdict can be 10-1

• If there are 10 jurors, the verdict can be 9-1

• If there only 9 jurors, it must be unanimous

Why were Majority Verdicts created?

Majority Verdicts were introduced because because of the fear of “nobbling” of the jury (bribed or intimidated by associates of the Defendant) into a Not guilty verdict, when a jury had to unanimous, only 1 juror was needed to create a “stalemate”

Acquittal rates were also too high and through majority verdicts, it would result in more convictions

What is meant by Secrecy when highlighting a Jury’s role?

• The jury will retire into a private deliberation room and make a secret decision on the guilt or not of the accused

• prohibits the court from receiving evidence from a juror. after verdict has been given about anything said in the course of the jury's deliberations.

What are 4 advantages of using Juries?

• Public has Confidence in them

• Open Justice

• Secrecy of Jury Room

• Jury Equity

What is meant by Public Confidence in the Jury?

• Lord Devlin “Juries are the lamp that shows freedom lives”

• Trial by Juries established by the Magna Carta 1215

• Seen as impartial and fair

• Objections were raised when withdrawing the right to trial by jury for cases of minor theft

What is meant by Open Justice?

• Use of Jury helps to make the legal system more open

• Law is explained by the judge to the jury, so it is easier for D to follow the case

• Members of public have a key role within the legal system

What is meant by Secrecy of the Jury Room?

• It is as advantage that anything said in the Jury room cannot be disclosed

• s.8 Contempt from Court Act 1981 → Makes it a criminal Offence to disclose jury deliberations

• Free from pressure in their decisions

What is meant by Jury Equity?

• Do not have to give reasoning for their verdict

• Can ignore strict letter of the law and decide according to facts of the case and fairness

• R V Kronlid → D admitted to damaging planes to prevent them being used in war → Jury acquitted even though they went against the law (reached verdict by idea of fairness)

What are 5 disadvantages of using Juries?

• Perverse Verdicts (Unexpected outcomes)

• Jury Nobbling

• Media Influence

• Lack of Understanding

• Secrecy of the Jury Room

What is meant by Perverse Verdicts (Unexpected outcomes)?

• Anomalies

• Juries have refused to convict in clear cut cases - Uncertainty

• R v Kronlid

What is meant by Jury Nobbling?

• Jurors can be threatened

• Protecting jurors from nobbling can cost a huge amount of money

• Former Police Chief, Blair estimated jury protection costs £4.5 million annually

What is meant by Media Influence?

• Jurors may become biased due to media coverage of alleged crime, especially in high profile cases

  • such as R V West → D appealed her conviction claiming that media coverage made it impossible to get a fair trial→ Rejected by CoA and the judge made a warning to ignore information outside of court

What is meant by Lack of Understanding?

• Ministry of Justice report (2010) said 2/3 jurors do not fully understand the legal directions given to them by judges when they retire to consider their verdicts

• Discussions in secret so its impossible to see how a decision was reached

What is meant by Secrecy of the Jury Room?

• Under s.8 Contempt of Court Act 1981 → It is a criminal offence to disclose the juries’ deliberations

• This means no one knows how the jury make their decisions

  • This was seen in R V Young → Jurors tried to contact victim with an Ouija board