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AS Unit G151 - English Legal System
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Summary The Disadvantages of the Jury and Lay Magistrates
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AS Unit G151 - English Legal System
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OCR AS/A Level Law Book 1
Compacted both of these together due to the fact they are covered together. This document covers the disadvantages of both the jury and magistrates.
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Statutory Interpretation- Aids (Intrinsic and Extrinsic)
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AS Unit G151 - English Legal System
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Disadvantages of the Jury and Lay Magistrates
Disadvantages of keeping the Jury
One disadvantage is that the jury do not have to give reason for how they reached. This is because, this
way, it allows the defendant to have a fair trial, therefore upholding the rule of law. The only time where
the public are alerted to what happens within the jury is when a juror complains about the method of how
they reached the verdict. For example in the Regina V Young 1991 case, the jury had consulted a ouija
board during the deliberations and, because of this, a juror had complained to the judge in which the
judge called a retrial. Another disadvantage is perverse verdicts in which the jury makes a verdict which
goes completely against the evidence, because of this, it may be argued that the verdict does not uphold
the rule of law and actually degrades the justice system, this means that some cases means that the
judge may actually call a re-trial. Another disadvantage is that the jury do not always have the knowledge
to understand some cases. For example many fraud cases include a lot of complex financial and
business evidence and many jurors may not understand what some of that means and because of this,
the jury either asks the judge a lot of questions or reaches a verdict which they did just so they could
finish the deliberation.
Media influence is another problem, especially in high profile cases, the jurors may do some research at
their homes and then use that information whilst deliberating. This information may not of been presented
in the courtroom and therefore is not legally evidence. Because of this, if the jurors use this information
and uses it to reach a verdict, the defendant does not have a fair trial and means a re-trial needs to be
done. Social media also links with this, and is evident by the fact that since 2011, a number of jurors have
been charged for the use of social media, whether it being in contact with the defendants or to undertake
research of defendants. Other disadvantages include bias, especially racial bias, this bias is can be
bypassed via arraying or to cause, however, it can take only a one juror to make prejudice comments and
therefore it can cause a re-trial as it makes the trial unfair and biased, therefore going against the rule of
law. Finally, another disadvantage is the effect that jury service can have on jurors, some cases,
especially murder and rape cases, evidence can be quite gruesome and distressing, especially when they
have to visit the scene of a crime. Because of this, since 2007, counselling services have been offered to
jury members who require it.
All these disadvantages, if they occur, can imbalance the scales of evidence, impact the justice system
and cause cracks within the rule of law, this is why if any of them come to surface, the judge must order a
retrial or the barristers can appeal the verdict.
Disadvantages of Law Magistrates
Alongside the jury, Magistrates also make up a large part of the justice system, dealing with about 97% of
all cases. Again, though, with such a large method of justice, there will be a lot of disadvantages,
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