... health, examinations or specific domestic or business problems. Once the jury have been selected and sworn the jury's role is to act as judge of fact. In cases the jury must use their experiences of human nature and usually they must use experience of life rather than any legal knowledge to decide a verdict. In 1974 Lord Salmon estimated that about 2% of cases brought before the jury are wrongly acquitted and about 5% of the convictions in Birmingham were considered "doubtful" and even though there is always a risk of convicting an innocent this figure is considered unacceptably high. Appeals against convictions solely on evidence are very rarely successful. About one third of the jury's acquittals were questionable and were said to be mainly down to feeling sympathy for the defendant or a general mistrust of the police evidence. However although only 2% of cases brought before the jury are ...

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