Jury Directions
On 1 June 2009 the commission handed its Final Report on Jury Directions to the Attorney-General. He now has 14 sitting days to table the report. It will then become publicly available.
The government referred a project on jury directions in criminal trials to the commission on the 2 January 2008. .
A Consultation Paper was released in September 2008. A further background paper, Jury Directions: a closer look, was release in December 2008. Both papers can be downloaded from this website and print copies can be ordered from the commission free of charge.
In February 2008 retired Supreme Court judge, Mr Geoff Eames QC, was appointed as a consultant on the reference.
The project aims to identify which of the judges' instructions to juries could be simplified or removed and to what extent judges need to summarise evidence for juries.