Law in Focus: 'The Defects of Jury Trials' - John Spencer

In the fifth of the Faculty's series of videos entitled 'Law in Focus', Professor John Spencer examines failure of the Vicky Pryce trial following the trial judge's comments that some of the questions from the jury had shown a "fundamental deficit in understanding" of its role. In the light of the discharge of the jury, questions have been asked about the value of the jury system. Professor John Spencer discusses the pitfalls of the system over the years, and suggests ways in which the delivery of justice might be improved.

Further discussion of this story is available at:

• The Guardian;
• The Telegraph; and
• The BBC, amongst other sources.

This item also features on the Cambridge University Research Pages.

Professor Spencer is Professor of Law, Co-Director of the Centre for European Legal Studies, and Honorary President of the European Criminal Law Association. He has written extensively on criminal justice matters and has been involved in a number of law reform projects.  For more information about Professor Spencer, please refer to his staff profile.

Law in Focus is a series of short videos featuring academics from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, addressing legal issues in current affairs and the news. These issues are examples of the many which challenge researchers and students studying undergraduate and postgraduate law at the Faculty.  Law in Focus is available on YouTube, or to subscribe to in iTunes U.

Other collections of video and audio recordings from the Faculty of Law are available at Lectures at Law.