Trial by Jury

Abstract

The jury trial has been largely modified by changes to the law of evidence. This chapter focuses on the way vulnerable victims are now protected by a law of evidence that strictly controls the accused’s access to the victim during the trial, including the right to examine the victim in open court, the victim’s right to out-of-court evidence, to court support, for retrials following acquittal, and for rehearing following appeal. This chapter also focuses on sex offences victims and other identified vulnerable groups where the criminal trial process has been significantly modified in order to protect the interests of the victim. This chapter focuses on the criminal trial proper. It covers the period following pre-trial decision-making but before the accused is sentenced. Although the interaction of the jury and victim is negligible in adversarial courts, this chapter covers that phase of the criminal trial where the accused appears before the jury for the determination of guilt.