The Jury's Role In Criminal Cases

Question 1

When are juries used in the Crown Court?

Answer 1

for cases where the defendant has pleaded not guilty

Question 2

how many times are a jury used in the Crown Court per year?

Answer 2

a jury is used in about 20,000 cases each year

Question 3

What is the split function?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What do the judge and jury do in a split function ?

Answer 4

The Judge decides points of law

The Jury decides the facts

Question 5

At the end of the prosecution case, what power does the judge have to do ?

Answer 5

Judge has the power to direct the jury to acquit the defendant if he decides that, in law, the prosecutions evidence has not made out a case against the defendant

Question 6

What is directed acquittal?

Answer 6

This is where the judge has the power to direct the jury to acquit the defendant if he decides that, in law, the prosecution evidence has not made out a case against the defendant

Question 7

In what percentage of cases does directed acquittals occur?

Answer 7

in c10% of cases

Question 8

If there is no need for a directed acquittal, the trial continues and the judge will sum up the case at the end, directing the jury of any law involved. What does the jury then do?

Answer 8

The jury then retires to a private room and makes the decision on the guilt or innocence of the accused in secret

Question 9

How must the jury come to a decision?

Answer 9

• must try to come to a unanimous verdict, all agree

- Judge must accept decision

Question 10

What case does the long-established principle go back to for judges accepting the juries decision even if he does not agree with it ?

Answer 10

Bushell’s Case 1670

Question 11

What happens if after 2 hours the jury have not reached a verdict ?

Answer 11

The judge can call them back into the courtroom and direct them that he can now accept a majority verdict

Question 12

From what year have majority verdicts been allowed?

Answer 12

1967

Question 13

Where there is a jury of 12, what can the majority be?

Answer 13

10-2 or 11-1

Question 14

What happens to the decision if one jury member has left due to death or illness?

Answer 14

then only one can disagree with the verdict

Question 15

What number can a jury not go below?

Answer 15

a jury can not go below nine

Question 16

Why were majority verdicts introduced?

Answer 16

because of the fear of ‘jury nobbling’ through bribes or intimidation by associates of the defendant

Question 17

What could happen when a jury ad to be unanimous?

Answer 17

only one member had to bribed to cause a ‘stalemate’ in which the jury was unable to reach a decision

Question 18

What did majority voting stop other than bribes of verdicts?

Answer 18

stopped high acquittal rates in jury trials

Question 19

What must the jury foreman do if a verdict is reached through a majority verdict?

Answer 19

must announce the numbers both agreeing and disagreeing with het verdict in open court

Question 20

What is the provision in 17(3) of the Juries Act 1974 aimed at?

Answer 20

aimed at making sure that the jury has come to a legal majority and not such as 8-4 which is not allowed

Question 21

What did the Court of Appeal hold in the case of R v Pigg 1983?

Answer 21

That provided the foreman announced the number who had agreed the verdict was within the number allowed fro a majority verdict then the conviction was legal . It does not matter if the foreman was not asked how many disagreed

Question 22

What percentage of cases are by majority verdicts?

Answer 22

20%

Question 23

What power makes disclosure of anything that happened in the jury room a contempt of court which is a criminal offence ?

Answer 23

s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981

Question 24

What does s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 do?

Answer 24

makes disclosure of anything that happened in the jury room a contempt of court which is a criminal offence

Question 25

What is it a contempt to do ?

Answer 25

• to obtain
• disclose or solicit any particulars of statements made, opinions expressed or votes cast by a jury in the course of their deliberations

Question 26

Why was s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 brought in?

Answer 26

because newspapers were paying jurors large sums of money for ‘their story’

Question 27

What is a disadvantage of s 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 which creates secrecy for jury deliberations?

Answer 27

it is difficult to discover whether the jurors have understaff the evidence in complex cases