Commentary on Sections Juries and members of the Court Martial Section 74: Disclosing jury’s deliberations
549.Subsection (1) introduces new sections 20D, 20E, 20F and 20G to the Juries Act 1974. These provisions deal with disclosure of jury deliberations, creating a criminal offence of disclosure of jury deliberations and exceptions to that offence.
550.New section 20D of the Juries Act 1974 creates the criminal offence. This covers the same conduct as section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, which is no longer to have effect in England and Wales (see subsection (2)). It is an offence for a person intentionally to disclose information about statements made, opinions expressed, arguments advanced or votes cast by members of a jury in the course of their deliberation in proceedings before a court, or to solicit or obtain such information. The sentence for this offence is imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or a fine (or both), and proceedings can only be instituted by or with the Attorney General’s consent.
551.Exceptions to this offence are contained in new sections 20E to 20G of the Juries Act 1974. These exceptions ensure that the offence does not operate so as to preclude proper investigations into alleged juror offences or irregularities. They allow jurors to reveal information about jury deliberations in certain defined circumstances.
552.Paragraph 5 of Schedule 13 (introduced by section 75) makes provision equivalent to new sections 20D to 20G of the Juries Act 1974 for members of the jury during an inquest by inserting new Part 1A into Schedule 6 to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.