courts/juries

Question 1

what is the magistrates and crown court?

Answer 1

magistrates pass serious crimes to crown court (e.g. murder, treason, rape)
crimes that are triable (can be indictable or summary) can be tried at either court

Question 2

what is the jury and its structure?

Answer 2

• make-up of juries include 12 people (8 in civil cases), and require the majority verdict
• used predominantly in Crown Court, and usually the most serious cases

Question 3

who can be part of the jury?

Answer 3

• anyone who is on the electoral register
• aged 18-70
• has good mental health (has mental capacity)
• no recent convictions
• people who are not medical professionals, MPs or a police/judge

Question 4

Give some strengths for having juries? (NEWBURN)

Answer 4

+ Bar Council and Law Society survey found 80% of respondents trusted juries to come to the right decision
+ they are democratic, ensuring trial by one’s peers
+ allow for public participation
+ jury members are not swayed by professional prejudice
+ juries are a barrier to the enforcement of unpopular laws
+ juries confer legitimacy on the criminal justice process

Question 5

give some limitations of juries? (NEWBURN)

Answer 5

• juries are unrepresentative
• juries can’t cope with highly complex cases
• juries can be swayed by prejudice
• juries are too easily persuaded by the rhetoric rather than fact
• a few individuals may be dominant
• juries are insufficiently knowledgeable about the law

Question 6

who proposed the 4 themes of jury decision making?

Answer 6

DEVINE = literature review of studies making over 45 years summarised the research with 4 themes

Question 7

what is the first theme on jury decision making?

Answer 7

1. jurors often do not make decisions; it matters little what evidence the judge instructs the jury to focus on. Jurors tend to make their mind up quickly and the evidence tends to change this opinion minimally

Question 8

what is the second theme of jury decision making?

Answer 8

characteristics may predict jury better than juror verdict preferences. This is good evidence of favouritism when the defendant shares social demographic characteristic with the jury

Question 9

what is the third theme of jury decision making?

Answer 9

Kalven and Ziesel’s liberation hypothesis = argued that bias was more likely to occur when the evidence against a defendant was weak. This liberated the jury from the evidence, which taken on less importance and allows bias to impact the deliberation process

Question 10

what is the fourth theme of jury decision making?

Answer 10

the best indicator of a jury’s final verdict is to ask their opinion before they go into the deliberation stage where they are required to discuss the evidence. So, jurors make up their main before they begin to discuss their case