Year 10 Legal Studies - Term 1

1. The Jury System

2. • Jury: a group of people chosen at random from the
community to decide the result in a particular legal dispute
• The jury system developed from a number of (now ridiculous)
other systems:
• King/Queen deciding the outcome
• Eating “cursed” bread
• Fighting each other
• Saying particular phrases quickly

3. • Basic idea of the jury system is that ordinary people should
decide the guilt or innocence of the charged person

4. • One argument for the jury system is that it is a way to protect
the rights of accused people
• Some people fear that if juries were not utilised, more
innocent people would go to jail
• Others like the idea of peers judging each other

5. • In a jury, all 12 members must come to a unanimous verdict
• Unanimous Verdict: everyone on the jury makes the same
decision about whether the accused is guilty or not guilty
• If one person has a reasonable doubt, the accused must be
found not guilty
• Many people think this results in many guilty people going
free

6. • One criticism is that juries may not
always understand the complex nature
of the evidence (such as forensic
evidence)
• Some evidence may not be understood
because of members of the jury’s level of
education, life experience, evaluation
capacities, etc
• Should ordinary men and women be
given the task of deciding someone
else’s guilt/innocence? http://www.stus.com/stus-category.php?cat=PLA&sub=JUR

7. • Hung Jury: jury that cannot reach a unanimous decision about
whether the accused is guilty or not
• In other states, a majority verdict is enough (10 out of 12
jurors agreeing on a verdict)
• Do you think this is better or worse?

8. • Qld law says that a jury is to be used for indictable offences
• Indictable offences: more serious offences; will have a
committal before (possibly) a trial
• Committal: used for more serious offence, the first of a two-
stage process to determine whether the accused is guilty. At
the committal hearing, the magistrate will decide whether
enough evidence that the accused is guilty exists to justify the
matter going to full trial

9. • Summary Offences: less serious offences; usually not
punishable by a jail term
• These do not involve a jury and are held in the Magistrates
Court
• There is no guarantee that a person will get a jury trial in most
cases

10. • A jury of four or six people will sometimes hear a civil case,
unless legislation says a jury must not be used
• Example, Qld laws state that civil claims resulting from motor
vehicle or work-related accidents are to be decided by a judge
alone

11. • Where a judge and jury are used, the judge will explain the
evidence to the jury and how it can be used in the case
• The judge will decide whether this is enough evidence to help
the jury decide the issue
• If the judge decides there is not sufficient evidence, the jury
does not decide the issue and the case will not be successful
• If the judge does think there is sufficient evidence s/he will tell
the jury to think about the issue and will give them some
guidelines
• Once there is some evidence in relation to the issue, the issue
must be left to the jury to decide
• The judge cannot tell the jury what to decide – if s/he does,
the judgement may later be appealed

12. Questions
1. Describe the roles of the following legal personnel:
1. Sheriff
2. Court reporter
3. Judge
4. Barrister
5. Solicitor
6. Bailiff
2. Describe an advantage of the jury system
3. Describe a disadvantage of the jury system
4. Distinguish between summary and indictable offences
5. What questions do juries decide in a case – fact or law?