Pros and Cons of Trial by Jury
Pros and Cons of Trial by Jury
The introduction of jury trials next year will be a step towards a better and more humane legal system for Kazakstan, NBCentralAsia analysts say. At the same time, they foresee a number of obstacles such as judges attempting to influence jury decisions and generally low levels of familiarity with the law.
The new institution will come into being from January 2007, with nine-person juries sitting on serious criminal cases. The defendant will have the right to choose whether to be tried by a jury.
Political scientist Dosym Satpaev, director of the Risk Assessment Group, said the move is a significant achievement for Kazakstan’s judicial system.
The only possible pitfall, he said, was that judges might seek to exert undue influence, since the continental system used in Kazakstan will mean that judges will work with the jury to produce a verdict.
“There is a good chance that judges will pressure jury members, since the judges are legal professionals and jurors are not,” Satpaev says. “Kazakstan’s judicial system is less than perfect. Judges stand accused of many things ranging from corruption, to charges that they deliver verdicts that are influenced by [external] circumstances.”
Legal expert Sergei Zolotnikov is optimistic about a change that he believes will make the judicial process more humane. He thinks judges will be more inclined to follow court procedure if a jury is present, while the system will tend to create more of an adversarial relationship between the defence and prosecution.
Although most commentators are positive about jury trials, some have reservations about their effectiveness, given the tendency of the law enforcement agencies to display strong corporate loyalty, and concerns that members of the public could be swayed by parochial interest or hampered by ignorance of the law.
“Society is not ready for the introduction of jury trials,” said one NBCentralAsia commentator. “First, people here are ignorant of criminal and other law. Secondly, kinship-based clan divisions are still a major factor, and could influence the kind of verdicts that are delivered.”
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
The new institution will come into being from January 2007, with nine-person juries sitting on serious criminal cases. The defendant will have the right to choose whether to be tried by a jury.
Political scientist Dosym Satpaev, director of the Risk Assessment Group, said the move is a significant achievement for Kazakstan’s judicial system.
The only possible pitfall, he said, was that judges might seek to exert undue influence, since the continental system used in Kazakstan will mean that judges will work with the jury to produce a verdict.
“There is a good chance that judges will pressure jury members, since the judges are legal professionals and jurors are not,” Satpaev says. “Kazakstan’s judicial system is less than perfect. Judges stand accused of many things ranging from corruption, to charges that they deliver verdicts that are influenced by [external] circumstances.”
Legal expert Sergei Zolotnikov is optimistic about a change that he believes will make the judicial process more humane. He thinks judges will be more inclined to follow court procedure if a jury is present, while the system will tend to create more of an adversarial relationship between the defence and prosecution.
Although most commentators are positive about jury trials, some have reservations about their effectiveness, given the tendency of the law enforcement agencies to display strong corporate loyalty, and concerns that members of the public could be swayed by parochial interest or hampered by ignorance of the law.
“Society is not ready for the introduction of jury trials,” said one NBCentralAsia commentator. “First, people here are ignorant of criminal and other law. Secondly, kinship-based clan divisions are still a major factor, and could influence the kind of verdicts that are delivered.”
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
