Jury System in the UK Assignment Help

Jury System in the UK
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Introduction
The idea of the jury system was introduced in the UK after the overthrow of Norman where the system used to work in a different way as compared to the present times. The jurors used to work as witnesses that provided needed information on the local matters and were used for the administrative tasks for the majority of times. Later, these jurors were a team of 12 randomly chosen people sworn to place their unbiased verdict in the criminal or civil trials. The main aim of the jury system is to provide a true, just and fair verdict on the cases being assessed and analysed by a team of 12 people and not by judges alone (Elliott amp Quinn, 2015). This is because it was assumed that if the judges are working alone on the cases then the verdict might be prejudicial and unfair and this will, in turn, violate the human rights of the citizens. The main reason behind the concept of the juror is that sometimes, a guilty verdict is required to be sentenced by law and the juror could acquit the defendants and ensure that the judicial system of the country works for the assistance of the public and not in favour of the unfair leaders (Wilson amp Wortley, 2018). This is the reason why the jury system is considered as the essential and confident part of the criminal justice system of the UK. The essay aims to highlight the arguments in favor of the jury system implemented in the UK. Furthermore, it critically states the arguments against the jury system in the UK.
Arguments Supporting the Jury System in the UK
The jury system implemented in the UK makes sure that the opinions of the society are reflected well through the decisions or verdicts stated by them. The jury system works on facts and figures being analysed on the basis of common sense and does not require any kind of legal training for the same (Brooks, 2017). The conscience mind makes the right decisions the majority of times. The opinion generated is independent by the 12 selected people called jurors which is way better than the decision taken by the judge alone. This is because it reduces the chances of individual biases. Furthermore, there are more arguments stated in favor of the jury system which is as follows
Participation of the Public The jury system allows the public to participate in the proceedings of the cases. Besides this, it allows the public to become part of the legal system by selecting the jury members through a lottery system. This permits the citizens of the country to be part of the administrative services of the criminal and civil justice system. The participating personal must qualify with the prescribed eligibility to become part of the system. However, some people find the progress of the trial to be expensive whereas most of them have explored this experience as exciting. The public involvement creates greater confidence among the citizens of the country on the decision-making power of the jury system (Matthews et al., 2004). This makes it difficult for the political powers to counter the decisions or verdict given by the jury. The jury system has received general public acceptance by dedicatedly working for many years.
The certainty of Verdict The verdict given by the jurors are impartial and the decision is purely based on the opinion. The jurors do not add must information to avoid misinterpretation and the opinion is based on votes given by the jurors. A significant advantage of the jury system is that 12 people working for the case is way better than I judge taking the decisions (Willmott et al., 2017). The jury of 12 jurors provides an advantage of having 12 different opinions and input for the case, analysing and investigating the case deeply and finding the correct verdict in an unbiased manner. This process generates a variety of ideas from the society and opinions as compared to a single judge analyzing the case with a single viewpoint of legal perspective only.
Conscience Ability to Judge The jury system represents the most democratic part of the constitution in the English Legal System (Heywood, 2015). The jurors settle the cases of the general public and analyze whether the defendants are guilty or not for the crimes of violence, murder, robbery, and scam. The case where the single judge understands and analyses the case on the basis of facts and figures represented in the form of evidence, the jurors makes the verdict on the basis of opinion. The juror gives a reasonable chance to the defendant to place their opinion and to narrate their side of the story to the jury and make a decision on the basis of votes given by the jury. For instance, the case requires a death verdict for the punishable crime done by the defendant, the jury has the right to argue for genuine justice for the case and can acquit the defendants from the case if their conscience allows them to take this decision.
Arguments Against the Jury System in the UK
The main disadvantage of the jury system is that the 12 chosen jurors are randomly selected where the society is represented as deceptive. This symbolises that the selected jury belongs to an uneducated sector or the people selected do not have sufficient legal knowledge to analyse the criminal and civil cases and cannot weigh the evidence provided for the case properly. They lack in dealing with complex cases of fraud or murder. For instance, the jurors cannot distinguish between the case law of murder or the case of manslaughter. Furthermore, there are more arguments stated against the jury system which are as follows
Lack of Aptitude the jury members lack the ability to understand the complex cases and the evidence connected to it. This is because the hired team of the jury are not selected on the basis of education and qualification rather, they are selected on a random basis on the lottery system in order to ensure the public participation aspect. The lottery system of selection creates clear chances of untrained and unqualified people getting selected for the panel (Finch amp Fafinski, 2018). The justice panel observed that the jurors lack the ability to understand complex cases of fraud and murder and acquit the defendants on unreasonable grounds. Besides this, the lack of understanding the issues, favourable biased opinions and discriminating the defendants have raised questions against the verdicts given by the jurors.
Expensive Jury System The cost and time required for the trials causes problems for the applicants. The per day cost of the trial is very expensive and if the jury disagrees with the case then retrials have to arranged that increases the cost of the case every day. The appointment of a single judge might eradicate this problem and less time will be consumed for the decision-making process.
Partiality and Biased Approach with the Defendants It can be observed that the jury gives biased verdicts on the basis of a sympathetic approach towards the defendants or not performing their duties properly. It was stated by many judges of the justice panel that the juries give an unwanted and unfair advantage to the defendants because of the influence they have on the society and convicting the few and acquitting others from the case based on the influence (Lever, 2017). The decisions of the jurors are influenced by the two or three strong headed jurors in the system. The influenced decisions were being justified by characterizing the confusions of the jurors as the reasonable benefit of the doubt for the defendants and acquitting them.
Manipulations Created by Defendants It was noted by the government that the defendants manipulated the right to jury trial for their benefit in many ways. Making delay in the hearing of the case would allow the defendant to reduce their charges. The delay will further compel the prosecution to reduce the chances of attending the hearing. The defendant being imprisoned in the local prison will allow him/her to avail more visits and will reduce the tenure of the final prison sentence. The manipulations give undesirable and unfair advantages to the convict or defendant and at the same time, it is a waste of a lot of money and time as well (Baldwin amp McConville, 1979). The manipulations can be controlled by eliminating the juries from complex cases.
Conclusion
The jury system has been working efficaciously in the UK and has observed visible general acceptance of the society after working for a long tenure. The advantages of the jury system have allowed it to exist in the criminal and civil justice system for a longer tenure. The team of 12 jurors and the participation of the public in the legal matters have given liberal and independent character to the jury system. On the contrary, the disadvantages of the jury system have certainly hampered the overall reputation of the English legal system because of the biased approach and manipulations conducted by the defendants. The drawbacks of the jury system must be given equal importance to prevent unfair and unjust verdicts. Despite various disadvantages, the system can achieve flourished success in the English legal system by introducing better amendments and will remain to continue as an asset of the justice system and the society as well.
References
Baldwin, J., amp McConville, M. (1979). Jury trials (p. 41). Oxford Clarendon Press. Retrieved from https//www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspxID56221
Brooks, T. (2017). The right to trial by jury. In The Right to a Fair Trial (pp. 83-98). Routledge. Retrieved from https//www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351541008/chapters/10.4324/9781315085401-3
Elliott, C., amp Quinn, F. (2015). English Legal System, 14. Aufl., London. Retrieved from https//sangu.ge/images/Englishlegal.pdf
Finch, E., amp Fafinski, S. (2018). Law Express English Legal System. Pearson UK. Retrieved from https//books.google.co.in/bookshlenamplrampidmg9jDwAAQBAJampoifndamppgPT3ampdqdisadvantagesofjurysysteminbritainampots0UmHzTShtqampsig0R9m7FjQh6FH2JuUgXNH6-YP8dYampredir_escyvonepageampqdisadvantages20of20jury20system20in20britainampffalse
Heywood, A. (2015). Essentials of UK politics. Macmillan International Higher Education. Retrieved from https//books.google.co.in/bookshlenamplrampid1ubnCgAAQBAJampoifndamppgPP1ampdqArgumentsSupportingtheJurySysteminukampotsdXEoCBAJWTampsigGotOLq5hpb_HngKWYpbQ3_V9EMwampredir_escyvonepageampqampffalse
Lever, A. (2017). Democracy, Epistemology and the Problem of AllWhite Juries. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 34(4), 541-556. Retrieved from https//onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/japp.12203
Matthews, R., Hancock, L., amp Briggs, D. (2004). Jurors Perceptions, Understanding, Confidence and Satisfaction in the Jury System A Study in Six Courts. Research Development and Statistics Directorate, Home Office. Retrieved from https//s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/28146075/rdsolr0504.pdfAWSAccessKeyIdAKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3AampExpires1552496391ampSignatureP0oxw70OG9aKc2FX3PTVLt04qNfI3Dampresponse-content-dispositioninline3B20filename3DJurors_Perceptions_Understanding_Confide.pdf
Willmott, D., Boduszek, D., amp Booth, N. (2017). The English jury on trial. Custodial Review, 82, 12-14. Retrieved from http//eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/31985/1/Willmott20et20al20(2017)20The20English20Jury20on20Trial_Custodial20Review1.pdf
Wilson, S., amp Wortley, N. (2018). English Legal System. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https//books.google.co.in/bookshlenampamplrampampidGHlUDwAAQBAJampampoifndampamppgPP1ampampdqadvantagesofjurysysteminukampampotseTtqp8W364ampampsigcf9tp0nqU7_wlCKRzR3WPfUtS9gampampredir_escyvonepageampampqadvantages20of20jury20system20in20ukampampffalse
 

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