Lay People

Question 1

How many lay magistrate are sitting as part time judges in magistrate court ?

Question 2

What percent of criminal cases to lay magistrate hear ?

Answer 2

97%

Question 3

What are lay magistrate responsible for ?

Answer 3

deciding bail
hear summary and triable either way
issue search and arrest warrants

Question 4

what are juries ?

Answer 4

lay people who don’t require any legal knowledge

Question 5

how often are juries used and what crimes ?

Answer 5

1% of crime cases
murder, rape, gbh

Question 6

how many is in a jury ?

Answer 6

12

Question 7

role of jury ?

Answer 7

to reach verdict of guilty or not guilty

Question 8

4 advantage of juries

Answer 8

1) public participate in justice system
2) jury equity whereby juries make decisions according to conscience rather than strict letter of law
3) juries representative of society
4) decision made away from influence of legal ppl

Question 9

4 disadvantage of juries

Answer 9

1) don’t have to give reason for verdict so harder to appeal
2) no training
3) juries may not actually understand law
4) impossible to tell how juries reached verdict so can’t tell if came from right reasons