Describe How The System Of Trial By Jury Operates

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Describe How The System Of Trial By Jury Operates

        A jury system consists of seven to twelve people, depending on the case and the court appearing in.  Twelve jurors are used in Crown Court criminal cases for indictable offences.  The Queens Bench Division of High Court where the cases involved are civil cases also have twelve jurors.  These are cases involving libel and slander, fraud, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.  In civil cases at a County Court, eight jurors are present, although this is rare.  Seven to eleven jurors are present at suspicious death cases at the Coroners Court.  Specialist juries have been used within complex cases, usually fraud, as sometimes the cases can be complicated

        The selection process has been that since 1972, names were taken at random from the electoral role.  The Juries Act, 1974 section 1, states that those who qualify for jury service are anyone aged between eighteen and seventy who have been a resident within the United Kingdom for five years since the age of thirteen.  This should ensure that the selection is completely random, although within Birmingham, only one percent of jurors were of Asian or West Indian origin when almost thirteen percent make up the population.  

        Those who are ineligible for jury service, of which there is no blame, are people who are mentally ill, any persons involved in religious work, e.g. Nuns, Priests as it is believed that their religious views could over-rule the evidence, or anyone involved within the justice system, e.g. Police and Judges as it is believed that their views will be biased in favour of the justice system and the prosecution.

        The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, 1994, section forty, states that anyone who has had five years imprisonment or more is disqualified from jury service for life.  Any person with a custodial sentence of three months to five years is disqualified from jury service for ten years.  A probation order disqualifies anyone for five years and persons on bail are disqualified for the duration of the bail period.

        Members of the medical profession, armed forces, certain religious bodies and MPs have excusals as of right, i.e. their job is of importance to society.  Anyone who has served on a jury within the last two years is also excused as of right.  Any judge may discretionarily excuse any person with good reasons, e.g. any parent with small children, although, there has to be a very solid, valid reason.  Any judge may also excuse anyone whom they believe is not suited for the job such as any person affected by deafness or blindness, as this can affect the verdict, through being unable to understand any evidence given, or anyone with a physical disability that the judge feels will affect the overall verdict of the case.  Judges may also discharge any individual juror who falls ill, although the number of juries must not fall below nine, or the whole jury, normally occurring when the jury are aware that the defendant has had a previous criminal conviction(s)

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        Majority verdicts have been allowed in Crown Court and High Court cases if a unanimous verdict is not reached after two hours.  The Juries Act 1974, section seventeen allows for majority verdict to be used, normally eleven to one, ten to two, ten to one or nine to one.  In open court the foreman must state the number of jurors agreeing with the verdict and the numbers disagreeing with the verdict.  

        Jury Vetting is used to check that jurors are suitable fro the case.  Routine police checks are used to eliminate anyone who they feel is unsuitable or ineligible. ...

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