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A Balancing Exercise

Document Cited authorities 3 Cited in Related
Vincent
DOI10.1350/jcla.2007.71.1.1
Published date01 February 2007
Date01 February 2007
Subject MatterOpinion
JCL 71(1) dockie..Opinion Kirk .. Page1 OPINION
A Balancing Exercise
David Kirk*
The criminal justice system comprises many participants. There are the
agencies—principally the police, the Court Service (HMCS), the Proba-
tion Service, the Crown Prosecution Service (and other prosecuting
authorities), the Prison Service—and there are the individuals—the
judge, the barrister and solicitor, the jury, the victim, the witness, the
expert and the defendant. There is also the law—the Constitution,
statute, procedure, case law, pomp and circumstance. Each plays a role
in the drama of investigation and trial.
The complexity and interdependence of the structure is both its
beauty and its weakness. There is a delicate balance between the roles of
the respective parties which is at the core of the relative success of the
system. At the same time, any disturbance to that balance is likely to
have knock-on and unpredictable effects.
One area in which the balance of justice is about to be tested is the use
of juries in complex fraud cases. Most commentators would agree that
the jury plays a pivotal role in the criminal justice system as a whole.
Opinion, however, is divided between those who would go to the stake
in defence of the jury in any criminal trial, and those who think that, in
some cases at least, it is a serious obstacle in the path of justice. It is easy
to dismiss the proponents at both ends of the spectrum of this debate as
being misguided. The die-hard supporters of the jury are old-fashioned
criminal hacks harking back to Magna Carta, and their opponents are
interested only in saving money and getting more convictions. In truth,
of course, the arguments on both sides are of infinite subtlety.
The debate about juries in long fraud trials has been going on for at
least 20 years: Lord Roskill’s report in 1986 recommended the setting up
of a Fraud Trials Tribunal to replace the jury. This recommendation was
ignored by the powers that be at the time, who decided instead that the
new powers given to the...

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