Martin Rackstraw weighs up jury eligibility issues and the arguments for the removal of potential bias in juries
Recent government measures aimed at reforming criminal justice have the look of solutions searching for problems. None more so than the changes to the rules on jury eligibility brought into effect by s 321 and Sch 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA 2003) which removed the bar to police officers, prison officer, lawyers and others involved in the administration of justice from serving. At a stroke, certainty has been replaced by uncertainty, and the predictable flood of appeals has begun.
In R v Khan [2008] EWCA Crim 531, [2008] All ER (D) 212 (Mar), and in R v Alan I unreported October 2007 CA, the court has considered a series of appeals revolving around jury bias. These cases followed the House of Lords' judgment in the conjoined appeals in R v Adbroikof; R v Green; R v Williamson [2007] UKHL 37, [2007] All ER (D) 226
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