Safety in numbers
From Mr Keith Scott Sir: Australia inherited the English jury system, as portrayed by Andrew Geddes (Blind justice', 23 March). However, what concerns me as a practising Australian lawyer (and should, in my opinion, concern Judge Geddes) is not the alleged defects in the jury system, but the defective process in magistrates' courts.
This problem can be gleaned from the statistics cited in the article: namely, only 1 per cent of criminal cases culminate in trial by jury, leaving the other 99 per cent to be either pleas of guilty (magistrates' court or higher court) or trials in the magistrates' court. Of the trials in the magistrates' court, only 5 per cent end in acquittal. According to His Honour, 'more than a few' judges estimate that 25 per cent of jury-trial acquittals are unjust. Since currently 64 per cent result in acquittals, presumably he is saying that the percentage of just acquittals should be 48 per cent.
This makes the equivalent rate of acquittal in the magistrates' court of 5 per cent look pretty sick for the innocent defendant in that court. A similar situation applies in Australia, which is why any defendant, properly advised, elects for trial by jury if given the chance.
Keith Scott
Queensland, Australia
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