29 April 2015
Court of Appeal provides guidance on good character directions
A recent Court of Appeal judgment has examined the question of how far good character directions extend. A good character direction is a common direction which may be given by a judge to a jury as part of the summing up at the end of a trial. The court sought to bring clarity to this overly complicated area. The court applied common sense to situations where a defendant is of classic good character. However, the position remains one of broad reaching judicial discretion in respect of some murkier characters.
22 April 2015
Contempt of Court: Jurors in the dock
As a result of recent, high profile, instances of contempt by jurors, amendments have been made to the statutory regime for juror contempt by the introduction of Sections 68-77 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. The principal effect of this legislation has been to create specific criminal offences to deal with contempt by jurors.
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