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Are Juries Fair?

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Are Juries Fair?
Are juries fair?

Cheryl Thomas

Ministry of Justice Research Series 1/10 February 2010

Are juries fair?

Cheryl Thomas

This information is also available on the Ministry of Justice website: www.justice.gov.uk/publications/research.htm

Constitution and Access to Justice – Analytical Services supports effective policy development and delivery within the Ministry of Justice by providing high-quality social research, statistics and economic analysis to influence decision-making and encourage informed debate.

© Crown Copyright 2010.

Extracts from this document may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes on condition that the source is acknowledged.

First Published 2010

ISBN: 978 1 84099 326 4

Acknowledgements
Research with juries rightly carries concerns about protecting the secrecy of deliberations, and I am especially grateful to Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) for facilitating my work with jurors at courts in London, Nottingham and Winchester, and to the jury officers, court managers and judges at these courts for their assistance. Nigel Balmer, UCL Faculty of Laws and Legal Services Research Centre, played a key role in modelling the analysis of CREST data in this report and made an important contribution to the study. Given the scope of the study and its implications for the criminal justice system, a special Project Steering Group was convened from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), HMCS, Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR), the judiciary, Attorney General’s Office and Home Office (HO), and I am grateful to all the members for providing invaluable advice on the research. The report also benefited greatly from advice and comments from: Miranda Hill, Lydia Jonson, Gary Hopper, Mike Ainsworth, John Marais, David Perry QC, Dr David Lagnado, Marc Davies, Tim Strouts, John Samuels QC, Tina Golton and three anonymous peer reviewers. Kevin Dibdin oversaw the provision of CREST data and Rachel Thomas helped collect data in the
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