Lecture 6 part 1

Question 1

Criminal case

Answer 1

• Act committed, criminal code of Canada

- Judge or 12 member jury with unanimous decision

Question 2

Civil case

Answer 2

• Breach of contract or claim of harm

- Judge or 6 or 8 member jury that isn’t necessarily unanimous

Question 3

Summary offense

Answer 3

• Less than 6 months in prison
• Less than $2000 fine
• Does not have right to trial by jury

Question 4

Indictable offense

Answer 4

• Less serious, judge only
• Highly serious, judge and jury
• Some indictable offenses, accused chooses if by judge and jury or judge alone

Question 5

Hybrid offense

Answer 5

• Cross between summary and indictable offense
• Crown chooses to prosecute by either summary or indinctment
• Impaired driving, assault, theft under $5000

Question 6

Jury selection

Answer 6

• The Juries Act: Guidlines for jury eligibility/ineligibility criteria, outlines how they must be selected
• Differs between provinces

Question 7

Jury selection Ontario

Answer 7

• Canadian citizen, 18+, lives in Ontario
• Cannot be convicted of offense, work in law enforcement, medical doctor, vet, coroner, judge, justice of peace, law student, or have physical or mental disabilities preventing performance

Question 8

Jury selection challenges

Answer 8

• Peremptory challenge

- Challenge for cause

Question 9

Peremptory challenge

Answer 9

• Does not need to provide reason for rejection

- 20 for murder trials, 12 for other crimes

Question 10

Challenge for cause

Answer 10

• Must give reason for rejection

- Canadian lawyers only know name, address, accoupation, demeanor about prospective jurors

Question 11

Characteristics of juries

Answer 11

• Representativenes

- impartiality

Question 12

Representativeness of juries

Answer 12

• Composition that represents the community
• Achieved through randomness
• Crown/defence may challenge this

Question 13

R v Stanley

Answer 13

• Aboriginal man trespassed on Stanley’s property and got shot
• Acquitted with all white jury

Question 14

Lacobucci’s report

Answer 14

Review how aboriginals are selected for jury duty

Question 15

Impartiality

Answer 15

• Must set aside any pre-existing biases, prejudices, or attitudes
• Must ignore any information not a part of admissible evidence
• Must have no connection with defendent

Question 16

Pretrial publicity

Answer 16

• Threat to impartiality
• Concerns that media will influence the verdict
• Can cause predecisional distortion

Question 17

How do courts keep jurors impartial

Answer 17

• Change in venue
• Adjourment
• Challenge for cause
• Publication ban

Question 18

Change of venue to keep jurors impartial

Answer 18

• Difficult to have impartial juror in community crime was committed
• Pretrial publicity, Heinous crime, small community

Question 19

Adjourment to keep juror impartial

Answer 19

• Infrequent
• Delaying trial until sometime in the future
• Ensures bias will dissipate from jury pool

Question 20

Challenge for cause to keep juror impartial

Answer 20

• Reject biased jurors

- Ask questions that are pre-approved by the judge

Question 21

Publication ban to keep jurors impartial

Answer 21

• Pre-trial information cannot be published until juror selected
• After juror selection, minimal information published
• Full publicity available after case has begun

Question 22

Legal functions of jury

Answer 22

• Decide facts from trial evidence

- Decide on a verdict

Question 23

Deliberation

Answer 23

Jurors discuss amongts themselve to decide on a verdict

Question 24

Reaching a verdict

Answer 24

• Source memory
• Group polarization
• Leniency bias

Question 25

Source memory

Answer 25

- Jurors making memory errors from incorrectly attributing pretiral publication to the trial - Collaboration can increase errors in memory and one's confidence in incorrect memories

Question 26

Group polarization

Answer 26

Deliberation shown to heighten biases that majority of group members have

Question 27

Leniency bias

Answer 27

Jurors may be less likely to make a guilty vote after deliberating

Question 28

Issues with inadmissible evidence

Answer 28

Jurors have hard time ignoring evidence deemed inadmissible in court

Question 29

CSI effect

Answer 29

- Jurors have been found to rely on what they see on tv to evaluate evidence in court - More CSI type shows, more likely to say evidence was sufficient to prove the accused to be guilty