Intro
- A jury is a lay personal randomly summoned to the crown court to be the arbiter of fact
- Trial by jury is a fiercely defended right enshrined in the Magna Carta. Jurors are independent from judges as per Bushell and thus they are able to come to a verdict of their own choosing even if it is at odds with the law
- Modern day use in the crown court is goverened by the juries act. They listen triable either way cases and indictable offences (used offence in scenario as e.g.) and decide if D is G or NG
What does s.1 of the juries act do?
In order to be qualified for selection in the crown court a person must be:
- 18-75
- A resident in the UK
- On electoral register (since CJA 1972)
- Have been a resident of the U.K for 5 years since 13th birthday
- Not mentally disordered
- Not have been disqualified
What does mentally disordered refer to in the context of juries
- A mentally disordered person is anyone who is/has suffered from mental illness, psychopathic disorder or mental handicap and is thus a resident of a hospital or has regular treatment from a doctor.
- This is a blanket ban approach which means 1 in 4 would be ineligible for selection
What does disqualified refer to in the context of juries
- Disqualified a person is permanently disqualified from jury service if they have a prison sentences of over 5 years
- If a person has received a prison sentence for under 5 years/community order/suspended sentence/ or have committed any of s.20 A B or C juries act offences (researching cases sharing information with other jurors or trying the case on something other than the facts) they will have a 10 year ban
- Anyone on bail is also disqualified
What does lack of capacity refer to in the context of juries
- A judge can discharge anyone (before the trial starts) who is not fit to serve through physical disability (blind deaf etc) or doesn’t understand sufficient English
- A juror may also be discharged for lack of intellectual capacity or ability to understand the trial as per Pryce
What did the Auld review and s.321 CJA do?
- Removed nearly all barriers to jury service for occupational disqualification or right to be excused.
- Now only the armed forces have this privilege if it would prevent their work in the service
- The summoning officer has discretion for others to allow them to defer their service if they have a valid reason e.g. Exams illness disability etc
- Or they can get a discretionary refusal but this is rare
How are juries selected
A random list of jurors is made from the electoral register by computers at the central summoning Bureau.
- Summons are sent out to confirm that the receiver is not disqualified ineligible or unavailable for service
- From this a list of jurors are complied they will be sorted into groups of 15 and 12 will be chosen randomly by ballot to serve and will be sworn in by taking an oath they will faithfully try X based on the evidence
What is the power of praying the talesman
-If not enough jurors turn up or if to many are removed in the challenging the jury stage then the clerk can exercise the power of praying the talesman and select people from the local area as per s.6 JA 1974
What is jury vetting
- Vetting a list of potential jurors can take place to exclude those who are disqualified because of a criminal record as per Brownlow and described in Mason as common sense
- In exceptional cases AG might authorise vetting of background and political views as per ABC and Ponting but only justifiable to protect national security otherwise breaches Article 8 and isn’t officially sanctioned by JA but it’s based on AG guidelines which are subjective making it easier
What is jury challenging
- The jury used in Xs case should be random and the judge shouldn’t try to create a racial balance as per R v Ford. If jurors are selected in a proper manner there cannot be a challenge to the array of they are not multi racial.
- Challenge for cause to an individual will occur if a juror is known to X or is known to be biased as in Wilson
- A juror could also be asked to stand by for the crown and put to the end of the list of jurors
What is discharge in the context of juries
-This can occur if an issue presents itself in the case e.g. Racial bias as in Sanders or in Pryce for incompetence
REMEMBER TO APPLY TO THE SCENARIO
REMEMBER TO APPLY TO THE SCENARIO
