Criminology unit 3
AC 2.5 Discuss the use of lay people in criminal cases
The term ‘lay people’ refers to ordinary members of the public who do not possess any
specialist/professional knowledge which an expert in a certain field would have. Lay people
are involved in the criminal court system and act as jurors or magistrates.
Juries
A jury is used within a criminal case in the court system to ensure that a just verdict is
reached. The jury will hear the evidence presented to them by both the prosecution and
defence teams and then retire from the courtroom to make a decision about if the
defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt, guilty of a less serious offence or innocent.
The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 states that it’s a criminal offence to ask a member
of the jury how the verdict was reached. The jury is made up of 12 laypeople per case and
they hear the majority of crown court cases. They are ordinary members of the public and
are randomly selected from the electoral register. In order to be eligible to serve as a juror
an individual must be aged between 18-75 years old and be a citizen of the Uk, the Irish
Republic or a British Common wealth country. Furthermore, the individual must have been a
resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for a minimum of 5 years.
Individuals which have had a criminal conviction in the past 10 years or has been previously
sentenced to a prison sentence of 5 years or more, are disqualified from being selected as a
jury. In addition to this, individuals who are on bail are also disqualified. If an individual has
been selected to partake in jury service, then it is compulsory that they attend, according to
the Juries Act 1974 and the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Usually, the jury service lasts for 2
weeks but could potentially be longer, this means that if an individual has a job, employers
must allow an employee to take time off their work. However, an individual is allowed to ask
to be excused from jury service on reasonable grounds. An individual may be excused if they
have served in the past 2 years, possess a serious illness/disability or if they are a full-time
carer of someone with a medical condition or disability. In addition to this an individual is
also able to ask for a change of date for their jury service if they have a prepaid holiday, are
sitting an exam or if they are a new parent.
Strengths
A strength of the jury system is that because it is made of laypeople, it is seen as a crucial
part of the democratic society in which the UK has. This is because having ordinary people
decide the verdict for a defendant, is less bias than having a judge decide the verdict as they
are not as privileged and have a more generalised view of how the public functions. It was
shown in 2019 that 65% of senior judges were privately educated and 75% of judges had
attended Cambridge or Oxford university. Overall, this is beneficial to a criminal case as it
means that there is jury equity. This means that even if a judge decides to direct a jury to a
certain verdict, the jurors can still disregard this direction and make a decision based on
what they personally think is morally correct and fair. Another strength to using lay people
within a jury is that during the selection process, it is ensured that no one within the jury is
related to anyone involved in the case being heard, this means that there is an additional
lack of bias within a criminal case. Furthermore, jurors only serve and hear a case for a short
AC 2.5 Discuss the use of lay people in criminal cases
The term ‘lay people’ refers to ordinary members of the public who do not possess any
specialist/professional knowledge which an expert in a certain field would have. Lay people
are involved in the criminal court system and act as jurors or magistrates.
Juries
A jury is used within a criminal case in the court system to ensure that a just verdict is
reached. The jury will hear the evidence presented to them by both the prosecution and
defence teams and then retire from the courtroom to make a decision about if the
defendant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt, guilty of a less serious offence or innocent.
The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 states that it’s a criminal offence to ask a member
of the jury how the verdict was reached. The jury is made up of 12 laypeople per case and
they hear the majority of crown court cases. They are ordinary members of the public and
are randomly selected from the electoral register. In order to be eligible to serve as a juror
an individual must be aged between 18-75 years old and be a citizen of the Uk, the Irish
Republic or a British Common wealth country. Furthermore, the individual must have been a
resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for a minimum of 5 years.
Individuals which have had a criminal conviction in the past 10 years or has been previously
sentenced to a prison sentence of 5 years or more, are disqualified from being selected as a
jury. In addition to this, individuals who are on bail are also disqualified. If an individual has
been selected to partake in jury service, then it is compulsory that they attend, according to
the Juries Act 1974 and the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Usually, the jury service lasts for 2
weeks but could potentially be longer, this means that if an individual has a job, employers
must allow an employee to take time off their work. However, an individual is allowed to ask
to be excused from jury service on reasonable grounds. An individual may be excused if they
have served in the past 2 years, possess a serious illness/disability or if they are a full-time
carer of someone with a medical condition or disability. In addition to this an individual is
also able to ask for a change of date for their jury service if they have a prepaid holiday, are
sitting an exam or if they are a new parent.
Strengths
A strength of the jury system is that because it is made of laypeople, it is seen as a crucial
part of the democratic society in which the UK has. This is because having ordinary people
decide the verdict for a defendant, is less bias than having a judge decide the verdict as they
are not as privileged and have a more generalised view of how the public functions. It was
shown in 2019 that 65% of senior judges were privately educated and 75% of judges had
attended Cambridge or Oxford university. Overall, this is beneficial to a criminal case as it
means that there is jury equity. This means that even if a judge decides to direct a jury to a
certain verdict, the jurors can still disregard this direction and make a decision based on
what they personally think is morally correct and fair. Another strength to using lay people
within a jury is that during the selection process, it is ensured that no one within the jury is
related to anyone involved in the case being heard, this means that there is an additional
lack of bias within a criminal case. Furthermore, jurors only serve and hear a case for a short
