States throw out call to stop “prejudiced” jurors

Thursday 22 March 2018

Rape cases will continue to be heard by a jury in Jersey, after the island's politicians threw out calls to replace them with Jurats instead, to prevent prejudice or misunderstandings of the law.

A scrutiny panel had put forward this change to the new sexual offence law, which will modernise the legislation surrounding all aspects of sexual assault including consent, after a rape charity raised concerns.

Jersey Action Against Rape (JAAR) told the panel reviewing the legislation, that the low number of sexual assault convictions in the island is due to the common misconceptions and lack of education on the topic among members of the public who are called for jury service. A problem they say is practically impossible to address, therefore they requested trials to be heard by the courts “Inferior Number” made up by the Bailiff and two Jurats instead.

But this proposed change raised questions on what’s more important: a fair trial or more convictions?

Deputy Tracey Vallois, who put forward the case on behalf of the scrutiny panel, argued that the change was needed as since 2015, only four out of the 13 cases of rape and one case of attempted rape brought to the Royal Court resulted in convictions.

It was a statistic backed by the Solicitor General, who also explained there is research showing that there is ‘pre-trial prejudice’ by jurors.

Home Affairs Minister, Deputy Kristina Moore, admitted she did “err on the side of caution” when putting forward the new draft law by leaving out the change on how sexual offence trials are heard, but she now supports it.

Pictured: States Members debated whether rape and sexual assault convictions would improve if trials were heard by Jurats rather than Jurors. 

But Senator Sir Philip Bailhache – who has previously held most ranks within the Law Officers Department including Attorney General and Bailiff – commented that “jurors are not as unreliable as some might suggest” and he didn’t support the move as “a trial by jury is a constitutional right and should not be swept away on a whim.”

Deputy Higgins seconded that by saying a jury system was a “fundamental right” that dated back hundreds of years. He added the purpose of a court trial was for “a fair trial and not for more convictions.”

But not everyone agreed. Deputy Scott Wickenden argued; “If we don’t do better in terms of convictions, victims will stop reporting assaults (…) We are failing them horrendously.”

The amendment of the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel to the Draft Sexual Offences Law was rejected - 14 pour and 29 contre

— States Assembly (@StatesAssembly) March 21, 2018

Many members commented that they haven’t had enough time to consider such an important issue; one that Deputy Anne Pryke described as “one of the most difficult debates” in her political career.

Concerns surrounding the lack of consultation on the topic led to some of the States members rejecting the change 29 votes to 14.

Overall the new sexual offence law, which updated some parts of legislation dating back to 1895, was unanimously supported by the assembly. The Home Affairs Minister labelled the vote as a “historic moment” for the island, as it rules out all gender-specific elements of the old law.