What is the role of the jury in criminal and civil cases

Authors Avatar

A) What is the role of the jury in criminal and civil cases?  

     Trial by the jury is an ancient and democratic institution within the legal system. The idea is based upon the principle of trial by ones peers and the right to a fair trial dating back to the Magna Carta and Article 6 ECHR. In the words of Lord Devlin, juries are “The lamp that shows that freedom lives”. Juries are randomly selected from the public and are the sole deciders of guilt based on fact as seen in R v Bushell 1670. However, they also have the power to acquit defendants based on conscience, even if the evidence demands a guilty verdict, this is known as “jury equity”. The concept of “jury equity” signifies that jurors are free from outside influence for example, in R v Wang and more recently in the ‘Kingsnorth Six’ Greenpeace case. The jury must come to a unanimous or majority decision in order to conclude a verdict.

Join now!

     Juries are used in all criminal cases at first instance in the Crown Court. They try the most serious indictable  offences such as murder and also either way offences such as theft, both of which, where the defendants plead not guilty. Summary offences such as driving without a licence are heard in the Magistrates Courts, so in reality only 5% of criminal cases are tried in the Crown Court and in many of these cases defendants plead not guilty so there is no need for a jury.

     The Juries Act 1974 as amended by the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

This answer shows a good understanding of the wide role of juries in civil and criminal courts. However there is a fair amount of material included that is not relevant to a descriptive question such as the one set. In the section about criminal courts the answer could be improved by setting out the different verdicts that a jury can be required to return such as unanimous and majority verdicts and the mechanics of how jury discussions take place. Rating ***