213.Sections 67 and 68 make provision for research into juries in solemn trials in Scotland.
214.Section 8 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 provides that (with narrow exceptions) it is a contempt of court, “to obtain, disclose or solicit any particulars of statements made, opinions expressed, arguments advanced or votes cast by members of a jury in the course of their deliberations in any legal proceedings”. The purpose of section 8 is to protect the confidentiality of jury deliberations.
215.It does allow for some limited research with real jurors. For example, jurors can be asked about their experience as jurors (other than what happened in the course of deliberations), their personal understanding of legal terms or concepts, or about their general views and attitudes. However, jurors cannot be asked about or disclose the substantive content of their deliberations. This prohibits researchers asking jurors about the evidential factors, credibility assessments and assumptions that informed their decision-making, or about the beliefs and attitudes that they or other jurors expressed during deliberations.
216.Section 67 amends section 8 of the 1981 Act to make it clear that it is not a contempt of court for a juror to disclose information about statements made, opinions expressed, arguments advanced or votes cast by members of a jury in the course of their deliberations provided that is done with the leave of the Lord Justice General under new section 8A, being inserted into the 1981 Act by section 67(3). Under that new section, the Lord Justice General would have power to permit jurors to disclose this information for the purposes of research into juries. Such permission could be granted subject to conditions and could be varied or withdrawn.
217.Section 68 applies where, in accordance with leave granted under section 8A of the 1981 Act, the Scottish Ministers carry out or commission research into juries and, for the purposes of that research particulars about statements made, opinions expressed, arguments advanced or votes cast by members of a jury in the course of their deliberations are solicited, obtained, disclosed or published.
218.In such cases, the Scottish Ministers must publish a report on the research and lay a copy of the report before the Scottish Parliament. They must also publish their response to the report, including any recommendations they are making. The report and Ministers’ response must each be published and laid in the Parliament “as soon as reasonably practicable” after the research has been carried out. Depending on the circumstances this may mean the report and the response to it are published and laid at the same time as each other, or that they are published and laid at different times.
Crown Application Research into juries Sections 67 and 68 – research into juries