History Criminal Law And Trials Assignment

Running head: HISTORY CRIMINAL LAW AND TRIALS
HISTORY CRIMINAL LAW AND TRIALS
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Name of University
Author Note

HISTORY CRIMINAL LAW AND TRIALS1
Introduction
A trial by jury or a jury trial can be defined as the lawful proceeding in a court where
the juries are seen as a making decisions or finding facts in relation to a particular case. Jury
trials are distinguished from bench trials or judge only trials on the fact that in the judge only
trials the judges are required to take all the decisions in relation to any particular case1. In the
jury trials held for criminal cases in the States and Territories in Australia there are 12 jurors.
One of the primary reasons for having 12 jurors is that it links the judge and the jury to Jesus
and his 12 Apostles. There are many advantages and disadvantages in a jury trial. This paper
aims to discuss about the possibility of continuing jury trials in the state of Victoria in
relation to the advantages and disadvantages present in the jury system.
Jury trial
The definition of jury trial can be stated as the group of individuals who have been sworn to
render judgments in impartial manner and submit them officially to the court or for setting
up the penalties or verdicts.2 A trial by jury or a jury trial can be defined as the lawful
proceeding in a court where the juries are seen as a making decisions or finding facts in
relation to a particular case.3 In the jury trials held for criminal cases in the States and
Territories in Australia there are 12 jurors.
In the judicial system of Australia the jury system is considered as one of the most integral
part. In current times the jury trials are mostly used in the Australian judicial system for the
serious criminal offences. The system of trial by jury is also considered as the default form of
trial for hearing any offence that is considered as serious in nature under the State laws. Even
1 Bartels, L. and Lee, J., 2013. Jurors using social media in our courts: Challenges and responses. Journal of
Judicial Administration, 23, pp.35-57
2 Brooks, T., 2017. The right to trial by jury. In The Right to a Fair Trial (pp. 83-98). Routledge
3 O'Malley, Kathleen M. "Trial by Jury: Why It Works and Why It Matters." Am. UL Rev. 68 (2018): 1095.

HISTORY CRIMINAL LAW AND TRIALS2
though trial by juries is used in both civil and criminal cases, yet the system of jury trials is
very rarely used in the civil cases in the judicial system in Australia. The use of jury trial in
the criminal cases can also be observed as gradually diminishing.4 The major reason for such
discontinuance of the jury trials is the increase in the strong incentive existing for the
offenders if they forego the rights they have for jury trials in exchange for the discount in the
total sentencing they would get if they plead guilty in front of the court before the trial starts.
The role of the jurors in the justice system in Victoria in civil and criminal cases is to
determine the facts and to apply the laws that are existing to the facts presented in front of the
judges to reach a specific judgment for the given case. The judicial system in the Victorian
State divides the functions of the judges and jurors in specific ways which is considered as
being central to the jury trial system. The division can be observed in the following way- the
facts present in the case are decided by the jurors and the decisions regarding the laws are
made by the judges5. The judges in the criminal trials need to provide the jurors with the
general direction for separating the functions that the judges and the jurors have in criminal
trials. If there is no direction is provided by the judges then the decision that the judge sums
up would be considered as inadequate and there would be miscarriage of justice in the trial.
An example of such miscarriage of the trial was observed in the trial in R v Ali Ali (1981)6.
Advantages and Disadvantages
There are certain advantages and disadvantages of the system of trial by jury.
The advantages of a trial by jury are discussed as follows. The first advantage is that many
people are of the belief that by way of the juries a fair trial is ensured. As the jurors are
4 De Vos, W.L., 2017. The Jury Trial in Western Australia: Comparative Observations. Int'l Trade & Bus. L.
Rev., 20, p.287.
5 WALLACE, ANNE. "Australia The Criminal Justice Process of Australia." Trends in Legal Advocacy. CRC
Press, 2017. 31-54.
6 R v Ali Ali (1981) 1 S.C.R. 221