Secrets of the Jury Room"Juries are the hinge of our justice system, yet we know almost nothing about them. The jury is a very secret cabal, protected by the law of partliament that prevents outsiders from soliciting juror's stories and the law of human fear that dissuades jurors from identifying themselves. Lawyers and judges speak platitudes about the wisdom and community values juries bring to bear, but privately many agree with the judge who said using a jury is 'asking the ignorant to use the incomprehensible to decide the unknowable'. It's clear from Malcolm Knox's experience of a long jury trial that both can be true. From the extraordinary account of a dramatic murder trial and the equally remarkable story of how 12 vastly different people, brought together by chance and given the power to decide one man's future, can find common ground, Knox shows how the jury system can work - despite the failures of the system that undermine it." -- back cover. |