Role of the Jury

Use of juries

• Mostly used in Crown Court

• Jury trials account for less than 1% of criminal trials

Actual procedure of role in the jury

• Jury listens to evidence and the summing up by the judge

• At the end of the prosecutions case, judge can direct the jury to acquit if there’s insufficient evidence

• Where there is sufficient evidence, the case continues.

• At the end of the trial, the jury will retire to discuss the case in secret

• The jury will decide if defendant is guilty or not

• The verdict should be unanimous

• JUDGE MUST ACCEPT THE VERDICT IF THEY DONT AGREE - BUSHELLS CASE

Majority verdicts

• If after two hours there is no unanimity, the judge can call them into a courtroom to say that a majority verdict is acceptable: 11:1 or 11:2

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