A government report into jury intimidation in Western Australia has revealed that a third of jurors felt intimidated or threatened.
The report "Juror intimidation? An investigation into the prevalence and nature of juror intimidation in Western Australia" was compiled by barrister Judith Fordham. It was commissioned because of concerns that a large number of defendants with connections to biker gangs were being acquitted.
Under the Juries Act much of the report is protected and cannot be published. But Attorney General Christian Porter said that he was authorised to release its statistical findings. He revealed that 33% of jurors said they felt threatened during biker trials, as opposed to 14.3% of jurors in other trials. Most of the intimidation took the form of jurors being stared at by the accused or the accused's family. And one in five jurors thought that the verdict reached in these cases was wrong.
Fordham suggested that jury facilitators be appointed to help juries reach verdicts. Porter said that Fordham's research was of "great interest to the State Government and her recommendations will be taken into consideration".
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The report "Juror intimidation? An investigation into the prevalence and nature of juror intimidation in Western Australia" was compiled by barrister Judith Fordham. It was commissioned because of concerns that a large number of defendants with connections to biker gangs were being acquitted.
Under the Juries Act much of the report is protected and cannot be published. But Attorney General Christian Porter said that he was authorised to release its statistical findings. He revealed that 33% of jurors said they felt threatened during biker trials, as opposed to 14.3% of jurors in other trials. Most of the intimidation took the form of jurors being stared at by the accused or the accused's family. And one in five jurors thought that the verdict reached in these cases was wrong.
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A WA jury yesterday |
Fordham suggested that jury facilitators be appointed to help juries reach verdicts. Porter said that Fordham's research was of "great interest to the State Government and her recommendations will be taken into consideration".