jury

ocr english lehal system

jury service

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  • Created by: farwa
  • Created on: 12-05-11 22:24

jury

selection

electrol register

have to be aged 18-70

on electrol register

resident in uk from teh age o

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jury

people are randomly selected , elctrol register, 1 in 6 chance , some people never called some called again and agian, no qualification are needed but have to be residence in the country for 5 years from age of 13 have to be on the electrol register. They are summoned by a letter which is sent through the post  and they have to reply back if they dont  it is a criminal offence and can be find £1000

jury can be defferd under certain circumstances such as hospital appointment or family wedding however they must give a date for when they are free in next 12 months of the original summons, by law you can only be defferd once, the decison is made by the jury central summoning bureau.

some people such as the member of the armed forces are excused and will not be required to complete jury service. Also those people who are ill and ineligibale for jury service and also people with certain criminal covictions, includes people who have served, or are serving prison sentences or community orders of varying degrees of seriousness and those on bail in criminal proceedings. A person will be disqualified for life if convicted and sentenced for 5 years or more in prison. The perosn is disqualified fro 10 years if they have served any sentence of imprisonment or being given a suspended sentence or a community order in the last 10 years you cant sit if your curantley on bail.

when a jury is required, a court official will choose a number of jurors usually 15 from those called for duty. only 12 are needed for the trial itself  more people are taken in to court incase a juror is uable to sit e.g. he or she may know teh d involved.

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jury continued

jury trials: they are expected to sit for 10 working days, on average trial lasts a day and a half it is highley likely that juror will sit on more then one trial. sometimes a juror is expected to sit for more then 10 days if the trial is expected to last longer.jurors are lay people and so do not need legal qualifications. the judge will assist them with any point of law and lawyers will be aiming to make their case as clear as possible so that jury can understand. jury is mainly used in criminal trials but are also used in civil case.

criminal role: juries only used in 1% criminal cases, because majistrates deal with the majority of criminal offences. the use of juries is reserved for more seriouse cases such as murder, ****, and grievous bodily harm. Trials take place in the crown court with a jury of 12. Most do not have legal qualifications so the judge guides them on relevent law.  The role of jury is to decide on the facts by considiration of the evidence.

verdict: guilty or not guilty. they must aim to reach a unanimous verdict but under the juries act 1974 majority verdicts will be accepted after 2 hours of deliberation. for mojority atleast 10 of the jurors must agree. if the jury has fallen to 10 e.g for illness then 9 must agree. if d found guilty jusge passes sentence. 

civil role: rarley jurors may be asked to sit on a civil matter in cases of defamation, fraud, false imprisonment or maliciouse prosecution. such trials heard in High court  or county court jurors may be required to sit in a coroners court.

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