Selection of the trial jury
The first step in the selection of the trial jury is the selection of a "jury panel". When you are selected for a jury panel you will be directed to report, along with other panel members, to a courtroom in which a case is to be heard. The judge will tell you about the case and will introduce the lawyers and the people involved in the case. You will also take an oath, by which you promise to answer all questions truthfully. Then, the judge and the lawyers will question you and the other members of jury to find out if you have any personal interest in it, or any feelings that might make it hard for you to be impartial.
Many of the questions of the judge may seem very personal to you, but you should answer them completely and honestly. Remember that the lawyers are not trying to embarass you, but are trying to make sure that members of the jury do not have opinions or past experiences which might prevent them from making an impartial decision.
There is a procedure called CHALLENGING A JUROR. There are two types of challenges. The first is called a CHALLENGE FOR CAUSE, which means that the lawyer has a specific reason for thinking that the juror would not be able to be impartial. For example, the case may involve the theft of a car. If one of the jurors has had a car stolen and still feels angry or upset about it, the lawyer for the person accused of the theft could ask that the juror be excused for that reason. There is no limit on the number of panel members that the lawyers may have excused for cause.
The second type of challenge is called a PEREMPTORY CHALLENGE, which means that the lawyer does not have to state a reason for asking that the juror be excused. Like challenges for cause, peremptory challenges are designed to allow lawyers to do their best to assure that their clients will have a fair trial. The number of peremptory challenges is limited.
Please try not to take offence if you are excused from serving on a particular jury. The lawyer who challenges you is not suggesting that you lack ability or honesty, merely that there is some doubt about your impartiality because of the circumstances of the particular case and your past experiences. If you are excused, you will either return to the juror waiting area and wait to be called for another panel or will be excused from service, depending on the local procedures.
Those jurors who have not been challenged become the jury for the case. Depending on the kind of case, there will be either six or twelve jurors. The judge may also allow selection of one or more alternate jurors, who will serve if one of the jurors is unable to do so because of illness or some other reason.
|
|
|
Task # 10
JUVENILE COURTS
The law holds that no criminal responsibility can rest on any child under the age of eight years.
Every year some thousands of delinquent children and young persons are placed under the supervision of the courts' probation officers. Special approved schools are maintained for the detention of those for whom institutional treatment is thought to be preferable. A juvenile under fifteen cannot be sentenced to imprisonment, and those between the ages of 15 and 17 can be sentenced to imprisonment only by a court of Assizes or Quarter Sessions.
The Criminal Justice Act, 1948, enabled the Home Secretary to provide new forms of treatment; several attendance centres are now available for boys between 12 and 17 who may be ordered to attend at times not interfering with school or work and not exceeding 12 hours in all and not more than 3 hours on any occasion. Schemes of operation for the centres provide for strict discipline and physical exercise with training in simple handicrafts. A Detention Centre managed by the Prison Commission is available for boys between 14 and 17. It provides simple and secure accomodation and its object is to provide short sharp punishment. The maximum penalty of detention with certain exceptions is for three months.
JUDICIAL EVIDENCE
The evidence of a fact is that which tends to prove it— something which may satisfy an enquirer of the fact's existence. Courts of law usually have to find that certain facts exist before pronouncing on the rights, duties and liabilities of the parties, and such evidence as they will receive in furtherance of this task is described as "judicial evidence". Judicial evidence consists of the testimony, hearsay, documents, things and facts which a court will accept as evidence of the facts in issue in a given case. "Facts in issue" are all those facts which the plaintiff in a civil action, or the prosecutor in criminal proceedings must prove in order to succeed, together with any further facts that the defendant or accused must prove in order to establish a defence which is open to him.
|
|
|
Facts in issue have to be proved to the satisfaction of the judge or jury, as the case may be, and the view that it would be unwise to allow the latter body to consider certain matters accounts for many of the exclusionary rules which are a typical feature of the English law of evidence.
Дата добавления: 2016-01-03; просмотров: 28; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!