Essay on Criminal Court Assignment
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Added on 2019-12-03
Essay on Criminal Court Assignment
Added on 2019-12-03
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Criminal courtEssay1
Attainment of just verdict in the presence of juryJury trial can be defined as legal proceeding in which jury is entitled to provide verdict oranalysis of case facts in order to direct the actions of the judge. Jury is group of random 12people selected from the public for the hearing of cases. Objective of this approach was toenhance faith of public in the legal system of England and Wales. Approach of jury system wasestablished in UK after the completion of Norman conquest (Zander, 2007). It is because; earlyfunctions of jury were quite different from the present environment. Previously, jury merelyacted as witnesses providing sources of information on the local affairs. However, in present juryis considered as fundamental part of the English legal system. Jury in UK provides assurance that criminal justice system provide justifiable verdict tothe general public instead of providing benefit to the unjust leaders. For this aspect, jury ensurethat justice system is not abused by political leaders for threatening their opponents. Inaccordance with the statement of Lord Devlin, “trial conducted by the jury is more than aninstrument of justice and wheel of constitution (Elliott and Quinn, 2008). It is because; jury actsas a lamp that shows the freedom lives of just”. Main function of jury to analyse the legalevidences in order to make appropriate interpretation regarding the case facts. Further, judicialparty provides direction to the jury for the applicability of relevant law in order to reach up to ajustifiable verdict. In criminal cases, verdict of sentencing is provided by judges on the basis ofviewpoints of jury. However, in civil cases, they determine the monetary compensation must berewarded in against of damages. Inclusion of civil person is judicial trial is an effective approach. It is because; trust andfaith of public in justice is increased as they are also involved in the process of trial. Jurors areassisted by the judicial person due to which provided is supported by legal provisions andviewpoints of an individual. In addition to this, defendant cannot claim for the unfair just as jurymembers belong to general public and they are also satisfied with the provided conviction (Leib,2007). This process makes less severe trial easy as parties do not have to incur high cost andtime. As per the theoretical approach, jury is not biased because they are not direct part of legalsystem and they are controlled by the same. Due to this approach, it is considered that jurors arecompletely impartial and they make decision purely based on their opinion. Further, final2
opinion is selected on the basis of voting system. This aspect provides more appropriate decisionin particular case.Public of England and Wales have great confidence in the legal system as they believedthat cases are fairly tried and justice system is effective. This aspect make reduction inintervention of the political parties in the legal proceedings. In accordance with the viewpoint ofLoader (2006), twelve heads are better than one. With the availability of 12 jurors there will bevariety of opinions and decision will be provided by the cumulative input. In comparison to this,single judge will only have single viewpoint and that also will be based on the legal perspective(Loader, 2006). Further, jury provides their decision on the basis of fact of wrong or right insteadof fact of legal or illegal offence. It is because, defendant can provide better explanation of thejury in comparison to the court who will judge entire case on the basis of legal perspectives. Forthis aspect case of R v Ponting (1985) can be considered. In the stated case, defendant wasaccused because he had disclosed the official secrets but in jury trial he was able to justify thereason of their action that secrets were disclosed for the benefit of nation. Similar example canbe considered in the case of R v Kronlid and Others (1996). In this case defendant had causeddamage to the fighter plane of worth £1.5 million which was proposed to be sold to Indonesiangovernment (Brookman and Nolan, 2006). However, but he was not held guilty because he wasable to provide justification that plan was proposed to be use for tyrannize the people and samewas acquitted by the jury.In all situations, Jury are not able to provide justifiable verdict because they do not havein-depth knowledge of legal provisions. Due to this aspect, they are not able to analyse severecase facts. In accordance with the case facts of R v Chapman (1974), a deaf juror had providedthe verdict without listening to the case (Hans, 2008). In this case, court of appeal held that juroris not prejudiced and decision was stood valid. However, after this case provision for qualifiedtest was introduced in order to assure that juror is able to perform. However, this approach hadlead to the huge financial cost.Further, there is severe risk of biasness in this system. It is because; jurors are influencedby facts given in media mainly in situations where a powerful person is involved. This aspect canbe noticed in the case of Madeleine McCann in which both the parents where in suspection forthe murder and abduction of their daughter (Lewis, 2006). In accordance with the viewpoints of3
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