Many rape jurors ‘reach decision in advance’

NEARLY HALF of jurors in rape cases come to a guilty verdict before they retire to deliberate, according to research by a Yorkshire academic.

A total of 43 per cent of jurors make their decision in advance, with the figure at 83 per cent if they themselves had been the victim of a sexual offence. Deliberations did have some impact, with 13 per cent changing their minds after discussion with fellow jurors, the research found.

It also showed that a juror’s educational background had significant implications for verdicts.

Jurors who were less well educated were more likely to vote “not guilty” because of an increased tendency to hold more sexually aggressive attitudes, than were those educated to degree level or above.

Dominic Willmott, researcher at Huddersfield University and lecturer in forensic psychology at Leeds Trinity University, said the concept of juries was at the heart of the justice system, but added: “As well as the importance of demographic features of the jurors, attitudes towards rape were found to be the strongest predictor of high numbers of not guilty verdicts.”