Exam (elaborations)
WJEC Criminology Unit 3 - AC2.5 Discuss the use of lay people in criminal cases
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AC2.5 Discuss the use of lay people in criminal cases1. Lay people *Are ordinary members of the public who are not a part of
the legal team involved in criminal cases as they have no
professional knowledge of the law.
*These people involve jurors and magistrates.
2. The jury: role *It consists of 12 people chosen at random whose role is
to listen to the evidence and arguments put forward by the
prosecution and defence and then decide a verdict.
*In order to decide a guilty verdict, they must be convinced
beyond all reasonable doubt.
*The judge will accept a majority decision, with at least 10
jurors who are in agreement needed to pass a verdict.
3. The jury: *Jurors have the right to decide a verdict based on their
strength- jury eq- conscience if they feel it is in the interests of justice, even
uity if it goes against the law.
*This means that defendants are more likely to get a
fairer trial than if a judge decided their verdict as they are
being judged by people who are equal to them. *Judges
have high legal expertise and they have become hardened
to cases, meaning that they are more likely to convict
defendants. So, juries allow for a fairer trial as they are
allowed to do what they think is morally right and not just
what complies with the law.
*E.g. Kay Gilderdale case: the jury acquitted Gilderdale
of the murder of her 31-year-old daughter. She pleaded
guilty to assisting her daughter's suicide but the jury didn't
convict her because they empathised with her and under-
stood the situation she was in. Her daughter was seriously
ill and had been for 17 years, all Gilderdale wanted to do
was help end her daughter's suffering and fulfil her wish.
4. The jury: weak- *It is argued that because the jury has jury equity, they
ness- jury equity- acquit too many defendants= high acquittal rates.
too many acquit- *There is a risk of guilty people not being convicted just
ted cases because the jury empathises with the defendant and un-
derstands where they are coming from.
*Although, statistics from Statistica show that the con-
viction rate in the Crown Courts in England and Wales
1/5
, AC2.5 Discuss the use of lay people in criminal cases
(2019) was 80%, meaning that this doesn't seem to be a
significant issue.
5. The jury: *They must come to their decision in secret under the
strength- must Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.
come to their ver- *This law makes it an offence for the jurors to discuss
dict in secret how they reached their verdict and for the media to have
influenced their decision.
*This ensures that defendants get a fair trial as it means
the jury makes their decision based purely on the evidence
and not external factors such as public opinion and the
media.
6. The jury: weak- *The fact that they decide their verdicts in secret can also
ness- must come be a weakness because it means that no reasons need to
to their verdict be given for why they decided the verdict they did.
in secret- no rea- *Therefore, the jury might not have understood the facts of
sons given for the case and there is no way of finding this out.
verdict *E.g. Connor and Rollock case: the jury convicted both
defendants because they were uncertain about which one
was actually guilty of stabbing the victim. A juror wrote to
the court after the verdict to explain what had happened
and that the jury wanted to make a 'quick decision'. The
Court of Appeal dismissed the case's appeal because the
law states that it is illegal to disclose what occurs in the
jury room.
*So, even if the jury is found to have been biased when
deciding the verdict of the case, it is not certain that the
case will be appealed due to it being against the law for
the jury to disclose what occurs in the jury room.
7. The jury: weak- *Although the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015
ness- influenced makes it an offence to 'research or intentionally seek
by the media & information online' and be influenced by the media when
seeking info on- deciding a verdict, this does not mean that it never hap-
line pens.
*Jurors are often influenced, unintentionally, by the media
as high profile cases get lots of coverage by newspapers
and become headline news amongst the public.
2/5
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