The Scottish Criminal Jury: A Very Peculiar Institution

Duff, Peter

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198298564.003.0007

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Scottish law does not define what a not proven verdict is, and judges have been deterred from helping jurors to interpret said verdict. 4 It is believed, however, that the not proven verdict symbolises that proof of guilt has not been proven, whereas a not guilty verdict in the Scottish courtroom is thought to show that the jurors believed the suspect to be truly innocent. 4 The current study aimed to test these assumptions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4 It is believed, however, that the not proven verdict symbolises that proof of guilt has not been proven, whereas a not guilty verdict in the Scottish courtroom is thought to show that the jurors believed the suspect to be truly innocent. 4 The current study aimed to test these assumptions. Further, from a legal perspective, the not proven verdict has the same outcomes as the not guilty verdict (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

et al. 2018

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The Scottish legal system is a unique jurisdiction, as jurors are able to give not proven verdicts in addition to the well-known Anglo-American verdicts (guilty and not guilty). The not proven verdict has never been legally defined, meaning that currently legal practitioners can only estimate why a not proven verdict has been given. The main aim of this study was to investigate if jurors violate the regularity principle, which is commonly incorporated in many rational choice models, by testing if the introduction of the not proven verdict has an impact on the outcomes given by jurors. In addition, this study aimed to test if the introduction of the not proven verdict has an impact upon how the not guilty verdict is perceived by jurors. In this study, 128 participants listened to two vignettes centred on homicide trials. Jurors could give one of two verdicts in one of the vignettes and one of three verdicts in the other vignette. The vignettes were counterbalanced in regard to how many verdicts could be given at the end of them. It was found that jurors in a three-verdict system were less likely to give a not guilty verdict in comparison to jurors in a two-verdict system, showing that jurors violate the regularity principle and that the not proven verdict may change how the not guilty verdict is perceived. The findings of this research have implications in relation to juror communication, article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights and juror rationality.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

et al. 2018

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“…Also, the ‘not proven’ verdict is generally considered as the middle verdict, yet it is not legally defined. 28 Not proven cases were not used in this analysis, as the definition of not proven means that the verdict cannot be correct, as the person was either guilty or not guilty. Therefore, not proven cases were omitted from this study.…”

Section: Footnotementioning

confidence: 99%

Are consistent juror decisions related to fast and frugal decision making? Investigating the relationship between juror consistency, decision speed and cue utilisation

et al. 2017

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The aim of this study was to establish whether more consistent/accurate juror decision making is related to faster decision-making processes which use fewer cues - that is, fast and frugal heuristic processes. A correlational design was implemented with the co-variables: consistency of verdict decisions (participant decisions compared to the actual court verdicts), decision speed, and cue utilisation (the number of cues used to make a final verdict decision). Sixty participants read information about six murder trials which were based on real cases and whose outcome verdicts were deemed to be correct by the Scottish legal institution. Three of the cases had been handed down 'not guilty' verdicts, and three had been handed down 'guilty' verdicts. Participants read opening statements and were then presented with a block of prosecution evidence, followed by a block of defence evidence. They were then asked to make a final verdict. All three co-variables were significantly related. Cue utilisation and speed were positively correlated, as would be expected. Consistency was negatively and significantly related to both speed and cue utilisation. Partial correlations highlighted that cue utilisation was the only variable to have a significant relationship with consistency, and that the relationship between speed and consistency was a by-product of how frugal the juror was. Findings support the concept of frugal decisional processes being optimal within a juror context. The more frugal a decision is, the more likely jurors are to be to be accurate/consistent.

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“…81, 87;2003, p. 94) has widened the instauration ofthe mixed court model instead of the traditional jury. Only in Anglo-Saxon countries, such as England, Scotland (Duff, 1999), and the United States is the traditional jury still in force today, in addition to some recent and exceptional examples: Spain and Russia (Machura, 2003, p. 124;Thaman, 1997Thaman, , 1999.…”

Section: The Choice Of the Anglo-saxon Pattern (Jurado Puro)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lay Participation In Spain

Jimeno-Bulnes¹

2004

International Criminal Justice Review

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Although the judicial administration in Spain is erected on the basis of the professional judge, Spanish law also provides for a degree oflay participation through three institutions: the office ofJustice ofthe Peace, the right of"popular action," and what is basically the jury system, which will form the subject ofthis article. The jury system in Spain is stipulated in the Spanish Constitution and is currently regulated by the Organic Law of May 1995, but it is not the first time that trial by jury has existed in Spanish criminal proceedings. This article examines some historical precedents ofthe various Spanish jury systems as well as the constitutional and legal regulation of the present system. A number of elements of Spanish law and the jury system are subsequently analyzed, and concluding remarks are offered. The jury system puts a ban upon intelligence and honesty, and a premium upon ignorance, stupidity, andperjury. It is a shame that we must continue to use a worthless system because it was good a 1,000 years ago.

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The Scottish Criminal Jury: A Very Peculiar Institution

Cited by 9 publications

References 1 publication

The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

The bastard verdict and its influence on jurors

Are consistent juror decisions related to fast and frugal decision making? Investigating the relationship between juror consistency, decision speed and cue utilisation

Lay Participation In Spain

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