7 April

Juries. Some countries, such as much of Europe, don't use them. They have a sort of democratic feel to them, but do they actually work? The George Pell case for example, where some very basic and clear rules of evidence were simply ignored by the jury and even some Victorian judges. I used to support the idea of juries, now I'm not so sure. They're valuable when your judiciary is compromised, as in the US where they're political appointments. But if you have an independent judiciary, I'd be more likely to ditch a jury if it were me on trial.