PSYC 3210U Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Paul Bernardo, Henry Morgentaler, Authoritarianism
Unit 6 – Juries: Fact Finder
Characteristics of Juries
How do Judicial Systems Differ?
• Judicial Systems
- Adversarial
➢ Judges not involved in collecting evidence or interviewing
➢ Only care about the information given/ presented to them
- Inquisitorial
➢ Investigation
➢ Judges are more involved- they see the evidence, go to crime scenes,
and question witnesses
• Juries
- Primarily used in criminal cases
➢ Not used he suspet pleads guilt or he there’s a plea argai
- Consist of 12 people
- Final verdict must be unanimous
➢ Every single person must agree on same verdict
➢ If oe perso disagrees the it’s a hug jur
Jury Selection
• Representativeness
- Jur of oe’s peers
- Randomly selected from community
• Impartial
- Juror needs to set aside on biases or prejudices
• Jury selection occurs in 2 stages:
- Venire
➢ Call individual (receive a summon asking you to show up at the court
house)
➢ Must be 18 years and older (in Ontario)
➢ Canadian citizen, must speak English or French, no criminal record,
depends on occupation
- Voir dire
➢ “peak the truth
➢ Lawyers get to question you
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➢ Out of ’s of people, the selet ol
Type of Prejudices
• Interest prejudice
➢ If there’s a persoal oetio
• Specific prejudice
➢ If you have experienced a situation similar to the case (sexual assault)
• Generic prejudice
➢ Racial or religious prejudice against an individual in the case
• Normative prejudice
What Can Be Done if Jurors are Not Impartial?
• Adjournment
- Delay trial
- 6 months to a year to change prejudice views
• Change of venue
- Move trial to a different city
- Maybe everyone in the city is bias
- Ex. Paul Bernardo case was changed to diff city from originally being in
Scarborough
• Peremptory challenge
- Disiss potetial juror ased o laer’s disretio
- Allowed 12 peremptory challenges
• Challenge for cause
- Dismiss potential juror based on bias/prejudice
- Other jurors decide
- Ask eeroe if it’s ias or ot
A Biased Juror: R. v. Guess (1998)
• Gillian Guess: juror in a murder trial
• Peter Gill: defendant charged with 2 counts of 1st degree murder (out on
bail)
• Gill: found not guilty
• Both convicted of obstruction of justice
• Guess: I hae ee oited for fallig i loe ad othig ore. I hae
ot oitted a rie.
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Legal Function of Juries
• Two legal functions:
- To decide the facts from the trial evidence
- To decide on a verdict
• Burden of proof: reasonable doubt
• Sentencing is not a function of Canadian juries (except recommending
parole eligibility in 2nd degree murder)
Would You Choose Trial By Judge or Jury?
• Kalven and Zeisel (1966)
- Asked 555 judges about recent jury trials
- What as the jur’s erdit?
- What verdict would you have given?
Results: Percent of All Trials (Kalven & Zeisel, 1966)
Practice Question #1
An option to reject based jurors is known as a(n):
Answer: Challenge for cause
Jury Selection Methods
The Jury: Who to Select?
• Neer forget, alost eer ase has ee o or lost he the jur is
sor. (Clarence Darrow, 1936)
- If you want to win you need to be very careful of who you select
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
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