Juries

The jury is a formation of jurors who are chosen from the society to determine
whether or not a defendant is guilty on the basis of the evidence presented before the
court without having any briefing of the case before going to court and give a rational
and impartial verdict based on their own common knowledge and the law presented
by the judge. The jury consists of twelve people who have no legal understanding and
using their own life experiences, interaction with people and their study of human
nature. Cases in the criminal court are to be proven beyond reasonable doubt and the
jury has the last say, whether guilty or not guilty.
Jury service started in the early thirteen century by a group of local men who knew
the facts of the case and could give a verdict based on their own understanding and
life experience

Qualifications for jury service

1. Only British, Irish, Commonwealth or European citizens whose names are
found in the electoral register can be chosen.
2. He or she must be within the age range of 18 and 70 years old.
3. He or she must be in good mental health condition
4. He or she must not have been imprisoned for a period of five years, any
criminal records or serious convictions.

Juries are selected randomly from the electoral register using random numbers and
a national computer database by the jury central summoning bureau, having therefore
fulfilled the qualifications of jury service.
The criminal justice act of 2003 allowed cases of serious or complex fraud to be tried by a
judge alone or where there is a danger of jury tampering while the justice act of 1974 allowed
the jury to be present. The criminal justice act of 2003 also expanded circumstances in which
defendants can be tried twice for the same offence (double jeopardy).

Advantages of jury
1. Public confidence; people feel more comfortable being judged by their own
peers and it also reflects as the judgment of the society rather than that of the
judiciary. Judgment by peers gratifies judgment by ones. “The lamp that
shows that freedom lives” was used to describe the jury by lord Devlin
2. Bureaucracy; the jury acts as a check on bureaucracy and also help promote a
fair and just trial by making use of their community sense.
3. Better and satisfactory decision-making; the jury does not have any legal
training and this results in decision which is accepted by the community.
4. Cost of judges, lawyer and other court personnel; with the help of the jury the
government will spend less in reimbursing the jury.
 5. Jury equity; the jury can decide cases based on their own idea of a fair trial
e.g. R v pointing 1984.a civil servant leaked information to an MP on the
ground of public interest; jury refused to convict despite know legal defence.
6. Secrecy of the jury room; the jury is independent of any body and protected
from harassment and pressure when deciding a verdict.
7. Impartiality; the jury is impartial through the random selection of juries from
the cross section of the society.
8. Open system of justice system; the justice system is more open to members of
the public and are also involved in the legal system.

Disadvantages of jury
1. Nobbling; nobbling of the jury usually occurs and jury are now give escort for
security and protection.
2. Lack of competence; as a result of the wide range of selection of jurors
incompetent jurors are selected and are not able to perform the task, which is
required of them. This could result in the innocent be punished and guilty
freed.
3. Prejudice; a member of the jury may be unfair to a particular defendant
because of his job, race, attitude or dressing, which will result to an unfair
trial.
4. Legal understanding; the juries have no legal understanding of the law and the
whole process seem strange to them which will result into an unfair trial.
5. Perverse decision; the jury can make perverse decision which is not justified.
e.g. R v Randle and Pottle 1991 where D`s wrote a book, twenty five years
later, about their crime: helping a spy to escape from prison.
6. Media influence; the jury can be influenced by the information passed on by
the media and can obstruct justice e.g. R v Taylor 1993, the newspaper gave
false impression of video sequence.
7. Secrecy; the secrecy of the jury to give verdict on cases without no reason
does not tell the public whether the jury understood the case before reaching a
verdict. E.g. R v Young 1993 the ouija board case.