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Making Jury Trials Fair: A Jury-centric Approach to Criminal Laws, Guiding Juries and Juror Comprehension

Making Jury Trials Fair: A Jury-centric Approach to Criminal Laws, Guiding Juries and Juror Comprehension

Author: Greg Byrne
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032755113
Published In: June 2025
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

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This book proposes using a ‘jury-centric approach’ for improving laws, practices, and procedures in jury trials. Courts assume that jurors in a criminal trial understand and apply the judge’s directions about the law. This assumption is based on jury verdicts and the courts’ observations of jurors and inferences about juror comprehension. Research reveals that the courts’ assumption about juror comprehension is fundamentally flawed. Addressing this problem is essential for fair trials.

A jury-centric approach is evidence-informed and works within a fair trial framework. It asks what jurors need to understand the issues that they must determine. It also examines juror comprehension research and why judges and lawyers have often been sceptical about this research. The book illustrates and evaluates a jury-centric approach through three case studies involving structured decision-making aids, homicide laws, and misconceptions in sexual offence cases. The book proposes establishing an interdisciplinary Juries Advisory Council, drawing on judicial and legal expertise as well as expertise in jury research. The jury’s task is increasingly complicated. Reform is essential to help jurors understand their task and determine the issues on their legal and factual merits.

The book will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, policy-makers and students in the areas of Criminal Law, Courts, Human Rights Law, Psycholinguistics and Organisational Psychology, and to judges and lawyers.

Foreword (Felicity Hampel AM SC)

Preface

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Glossary

1. Introduction

2. How Courts Determine What Guidance Jurors Need

3. Social Science Juror Comprehension Research

4. The Relationship Between the Law and Social Science Juror Comprehension Research

5. An Interdisciplinary Juries Advisory Council

6. A Jury-centric Approach

7. Case Study One — Structured Decision-Making Aids

8. Case Study Two — Homicide Offences