A THROWAWAY question in a rare survey of jurors has produced a disturbing finding: most of the juries did not realise what verdict they had just delivered.
The 277 jurors were questioned immediately after delivering their verdicts in 25 trials involving child sex assault.
The first question was "What was the verdict in the case?" But in only six of 25 juries surveyed could all the jurors correctly state their verdict.
In one trial 10 jurors reported reaching three different verdicts. In two other trials, jurors said they had found the accused innocent of some charges, when they found the person guilty of all of them.
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, which received permission to interview the jurors, had been conducting a study into the use of video evidence and had not expected to make a finding about the post-trial puzzlement of jurors.
In 40 per cent of the trials at least one juror - and as many as four - who returned a not guilty verdict said, erroneously, that the judge had directed them to do so.
A barrister who has reviewed jury trials for the Law Reform Commission, Paul Byrne, SC, said the results were disturbing and that most juries seemed to have a good grasp of their role.
"It is a fairly surprising thing that a jury, when surveyed, would get something as fundamental as a verdict wrong," Mr Byrne said.
"In sex assault prosecutions there are often a number of different incidents and the jury is told pretty clearly that they are to give different verdicts for each count. I find it hard to believe they would not appreciate that. I would think that it is a relatively straightforward task and so important that they would not get it wrong."
Mr Byrne said the jurors who were surveyed probably understood their verdicts but may have been confused by legal language.
"It's fairly unusual to get this kind of research into jury verdicts," he said. "I can't think of an explanation for this finding … I have certainly had instances of jurors being visibly distressed while giving what is a unanimous verdict, indicating … they didn't really agree or felt uncomfortable with it … But I have never had a case where a juror has said later they did not agree with the verdict."
The bureau's director, Don Weatherburn, said the findings were surprising. "If jurors genuinely do not understand the range of verdicts, we may need to do some more work in telling them what is going on."
