by Shona » Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:41 am
Reducing the size of the jury from 15 to 12 won't work in Scotland because of the requirement for a simple majority - you'd need an odd number.
In England and Wales, a majority is 10 out of 12 (and no option for 'unproven'). If there is no majority in England and Wales, a retrial is common. Research papers have shown that smaller the jury size, the less likely it is that they will reach a verdict.
I've been a juror several times. Apart from the first morning, when the jury was being chosen, all my time was spent in the courtroom. Found it fascinating.
What I would change, however, are the hours. Get the very well paid legal tribe to work longer hours and thus reduce the number of days jurors have to be there.
I did wonder if the legal folk were trained to speak very, very, s-l-o-w-l-y (are they paid by the hour?). If the spoke normally, trials would take half the time.