Jury Amendment Bill 2008
Objectives:
This bill has two objectives. The first is concerned with amending the Jury Act 1977, to put into effect a number of recommendations from the NSW Law Reform Commission’s January 2008 Report regarding jury selection. The other is to amend the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 to enable appeals to be made regarding decisions made in the discharge of a jury.
Comments:
In their Report 117, entitled “Jury Selection”, the NSW Law Reform Commission reported finding a number of areas of broad concern, including:
Juries having become unrepresentative of the community because of the numbers of people who were disqualified, ineligible to serve, or who exercised their entitlement to be excused, or applied to be excused for good reason.
The conditions of service and financial hardship being an impediment for many people being willing to serve as jurors.
The burden of serving on juries not being shared equitably, or in circumstances where they were not used to the best economic advantage.
And the current categories for ‘disqualification’, ‘ineligibility’ and ‘exemption’ were very broad, and unlikely to achieve the objectives of the jury system.
These amendments, in providing judges and coroners with the power to discharge jurors for cause, or due to trial irregularities, help to clarify the role of the judge and coroner.
Further providing these judges and coroners with the power to decide whether or not to continue with the trial, or coronial inquest, with the jurors who remain, or to discharge the remaining jurors at their own discretion, is also more practical and will lead to fewer retrials – which are costly and disruptive to the justice system.
To allow the judge or coroner the power to order that a trial or coronial inquest continue, despite the death of a juror, is also extremely sensible. Previously, if a juror died or was unable to continue due to illness, the whole jury had to be discharged and a new jury sworn, which again wasted time – the court’s and the jurors’ – and justice system resources.
Conclusion:
This is an excellent Bill, and I congratulate the government for introducing it.
