For Auld Lang Syne—Towards the Demise of the Jury?

Abstract

This article considers one chapter, on the jury, of the 12-chapter Criminal Courts Review Report, published following Auld LJ's review of the English criminal courts. Coverage of each of the topics in the article includes research proposals. First the appropriate size of the jury is addressed. Under the rubric of jury composition, reservations concerning disabilities are noted. The article then considers ethnic minority representation in detail. In the context of jury composition in serious fraud/complex trials a managerial experiment is proposed, together with four variants in the make-up of the jury. In the discussion on reasoned and perverse verdicts the approach of the Review is countered and two constructive alternatives are suggested. Similarly, the article puts forward a development in research method on jury deliberation, which was never within that considered by the Review. Finally, the jury trial is relocated in a constitutional framework and the article provides two perspectives on jury trial as a right, which under current circumstances should be settled by referendum.