The Role of the Jury

1. The Role of the Jury

2. Juries • Fundamental to our justice system • 12 people are chosen at random for a criminal trial • Will listen to testimony in a courtroom to determine guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or innocence

3. Qualifications People who can be Jurors: • Must be a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years old, and a resident of the province for at least one year People who cannot be Jurors: • Elected officials and people working in the justice system such as lawyers, police, and probation officers cannot serve as jurors, or are attending law school • Officers and non-commissioned members of the military or reserves • Have been convicted of a crime and spend two or more years in prison

4. Jury Selection • Potential jurors in Nova Scotia are selected from the Health Registration List • A large group of randomly selected citizens from which a jury is selected from is known as a jury panel • Arraignmentis the first stage of a criminal trial in which the court clerk reads the charge and the defendant enters a plea • The accused is brought before a judge and jury panel for arraignment to enter a guilty or not guilty plea • If the plea is not guilty jurors will then be selected from the jury panel by the Crown and defence attorney

5. Jury Selection Steps: • Potential jurors names from jury panel are randomly drawn • Person drawn goes before the court and faces the accused • Crown and defence may object to a potential juror • Either counsel may make a challenge for a cause • Challenge for a cause is the right of the crown or the accused to exclude someone from a jury for a particular reason such as: 1) Already has formed an opinion about the case 2) Physically unable to perform jury duty 3) Has been convicted of a serious offence • Each side is given an unlimited number of challenges for a cause

6. Jury Selection Steps: • A juror could be accepted as suitable and impartial but still dismissed by the Crown or defence with a peremptory challenge • The 12 selected jurors take the juror’s oath • Aperemptory challenge is the right of the crown or the defence to exclude someone from a jury without providing a reason • Trial is an adversarial process with the state being the more powerful party – gives the accused to say “I really don’t want that person.” • 20 challenges are given to each side for serious cases such as murder and treason • Less serious cases where the sentence will be less than five years in prison, only 12 challenges are granted

7. Jury Selection A reason for the peremptory challenge