Juries are an essential component of Queensland’s criminal justice system. However, the current jury system in criminal law cases does not effectively meet the needs of society. This thesis is established by first examining the role that juries play in the criminal justice system and the various interests of those affected by juries. This is followed by a consideration of arguments for and against juries and reforms that may be made to the jury system. Overall, it will be seen that there are substantial reasons to reform the current system.
In considering the effectiveness of the jury system, it is first necessary to understand the roles of juries. Primarily, a jury is a body of legally unqualified citizens who agree on a verdict based on evidence
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The current jury system is based on an almost millennium-old principle found in the Magna Carta (1215). As a result of changes in society since, the system must be seen as potentially outdated. In other words, it may not satisfy the needs of modern society, judged by what the major stakeholders of the criminal justice system expect. Indeed, there are substantial flaws in current jury systems in terms of effectiveness. The two major concerns with jury systems are their representativeness and their levels of competence. The representativeness of juries is essential as their reason for existing is to represent the views of society. Having twelve jurors could be understood to ensure representativeness and eliminate room for bias. However, this does not remove the possibility of juries being biased towards parties. Even if the potential jurors contacted are representative in terms of gender, ethnicity, age and socioeconomic status and though jury duty is a compulsory engagement, 90% of Queenslanders opt out of it. This makes it very likely that juries will not be representative. One example is ethnic diversity. There is likely to be less ethnic diversity in courts because ethnic minorities might not have sufficient language ability or access to interpreters to be jurors. Another example is age. It is likely that retired people …show more content…
The jury represents the voice of the people, regardless, juries are ethnically un-diverse, consist heavily of certain age groups and members of certain socioeconomic statuses. To ensure better representativeness, two specific reforms can be implemented. First, making avoiding jury duty more difficult. The list of excuses in the Act can be reduced to achieve this. Additionally, the reforms must address the racial diversity in juries. According to Israel, parties are likely to attempt to exclude Indigenous and other ethnic minorities from in the selection process (1998). However, for the jury to represent the voice of the people it must be racially diverse, as Australia is a very multicultural country. As a result, a possible reform is making it more difficult for the parties to object to certain jurors. To rectify the issue of a lack of competence in juries, a solution is to expand the kinds of cases that a judge-only trials. At present, for example, complicated tax and fraud cases require a judge-only trial. A reform is to make it possible for further kinds of cases to be added. An alternative reform is to allow an independent lawyer to explain issues to the jury outside of court sessions, rather than relying on the judges’ instructions alone. The lawyer could identify any misunderstandings and correct them. Overall, it is necessary for reforms to be put in place to address
The jury system of a trial is an essential element of the democratic process. It attempts to secure fairness in the justice system. Traditionally, the jury system has been viewed as a cornerstone of common law procedure. However, the use of the system of trial by jury is on the decline. Today, its use differs, depending on whether (a) it is a civil or criminal matter, and (b) in criminal matters, whether it is a summary or an indictable offence.
Justice is the concept of moral rightness that is based on equality, access and fairness. This means that the law is applied equally, understood by all people and does not have a particularly harsh effect on an individual. In Australia, the adversary system is used as a means to achieve justice by proving the accused, beyond reasonable doubt, committed the crime. The criminal trial process has many features which aim to fulfill the requirements of achieving justice. These elements, though considers equality, fairness and access, are flawed in practice. Flaws such as the handling of evidence, jurors not understanding instructions, inadequate funds for legal
During jury selection, potential jurors are interviewed then chosen or eliminated from the jury. The initial selection of potential jurors is completely random; citizens get “jury Duty” notices on a random basis. The screening of the jury selection is conducted by both the prosecution and the defense, and is overviewed by the judge on the case. During the interview, citizens are asked a number of strategic questions to ensure that they are not in any way bias for or against the defendant or case. The questions also eliminate those who have any connection to the case, in any way. It is during this interview that the lawyers on the case can voice their concerns regarding biased jurors.
Juries exists in the criminal trial to listen to the case presented to them and, as a third, non-bias party, decide beyond reasonable doubt if the accused is guilty. For the use of a trial by juror to be effective, no bias should exists in the jurors judgments, the jurors should understand clearly their role and key legal terms, and the jury system should represent the communities standards and views whilst upholding the rights of the accused and society and remain cost and time effective.
There is no information out there for people to read or hear about what jury duty is. There are too many different areas of the jury system. With this people are able to find ways to get out of having to go through jury duty. This leads to shortage of citizens to participate in jury duty. Canada is such a multicultural country and yet so little of it is shown throughout jury duty. The majority of people who are chosen to serve as a juror are your typical Canadian citizen. The Canadian jury system currently has a good structure but with this there is always room for improvement. In order to improve the current system the public need to be more aware of their civic responsibility to serve on a jury, In addition, the jury selection process must be simplified so that it is easier to find those who are capable and willing to be jurors. Finally, in order for it to be truly effective juries must better represent the diversity of the Canadian
The civil jury system is one of the most important facets of American life and liberty. It is an important agent of democracy and has been since the beginning of history. However, today many threats to the civil jury system are arising, ranging from judicial issues to outside pressures as well. The civil jury system is one of the most important agents in protecting the civil rights of all citizens, so its demise would have a devastating impact on all Americans. It is imperative that people fight to preserve the civil jury system for future generation, because it is their civic duty to do so.
The American jury system is used most commonly in court, but many question if the jury system should still be included in trials. The jury system should be kept in court trials because it will ensure justice is properly made, allow citizens to be involved in the court system, allow citizens to be heard by the government, and it reviews forgotten evidence shown in court. Some American citizens are beginning to doubt the “trial by jury” aspect of court systems, but the majority still supports this system. A jury is a group of people who decide the fate of the defendant. Juries play a large role in court systems and help decide the punishment of the accused.
Jury members play an important role in our American criminal justice system. Many criminal cases never make it to trial because plea agreements are arranged. The cases that do go to a trial are normally serious cases such as first degree murder, manslaughter, etc., which could either put someone in prison for a long time or even invoke the death penalty. Jury members have the ability to determine whether someone lives or dies. If someone has that much ability, it’s important that the jury members are picked wisely. The jury members should be unbiased and there should be diversity within the jury pool. The selection of jury pool has been an issue within the criminal just system, mainly because of the discrimination that takes place. One of the facts about jury discrimination that is largely undisputed is “the all-white jury has been a staple of the American criminal justice system for most of our history” (Delone, Spohin, &Walker, 2012). I agree, that the all-white jury has been a staple of the American criminal justice system for most of our history.
Frank, M. (2011). Challenging Peremptories: Suggested Reforms to the Jury Selection Process Using Minnesota as a Case Study. In review.law.umm.edu. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://review.law.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frank_MLR.pdf
The currently effective laws in the UK and Australia grant the jury in charge no access to previous criminal record of the defendant. While the law makers argue that this rule is to prevent the accused person from disadvantageous prejudgment, other lawyers are no disputing over this claiming that the jury should be given all the past details before he or she reaches the final decision. Agreeing this law article is purely for protective purpose, I, on the other hand, firmly believe that the past facts should also be put into consideration such as the seriousness and frequency of his committing crime.
The responsibility of the jury in criminal and civil cases is to “determine questions of fact” and apply law as set out by the judge and then, with these facts and evidence, come up with a verdict.
The jury is one of the most important parts of the justice system. It allows “the people” to have a say in their peers’ trials. The job of a jury in the courts of the United States is to hear both sides of a case and then use the facts to determine a verdict. But if the jury members are unable to understand what is being presented to them, they cannot effectively play their part. And that can lead to the unjust punishment of innocent individuals and vice versa. The only intelligence-related requirement for a juror is that he must be of “sound mind,” but that is quite open-ended, and there is not currently any means of testing questionable jurors. Occasionally, a juror or two are dismissed
A jury is a group of 12 people aged between 18 and 70 who have been randomly selected from the electoral roll. Juries are only used for indictable criminal offences, these cases are held in either the District or Supreme court.
With one of the aims that are of the symposium that is to demonstrate how the jury system and how it has managed to adapt and to survive in a range of a very different legal and the political environments. In the one respect, there is the survival of the jury in a country that has been long riddled with a political upheaval, violence, and the division that may have been viewed as a powerful symbol of a triumph of an institution that has endured throughout the years as a living testament to the adaptability of the common law tradition that is with the jury system that is often associated. Not only has the jury the survived the political troubles of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century in Ireland, but it has also survived the changes of
In today’s society a defendant is innocent till proven guilty in the court of law. In every jury trial, the lawyers always begin a cases with the process of selecting the jurors. Juries is define as a group of people who are members of the community and are chose to give a verdict in a legal case. Jury duty is mandatory for all United States citizens (White, Black, Male or Female). To fully understand how important the jury selection is for the criminal justice system, we need to first understand the process of jury selection.