Making Trials Work for Juries: Pathways to Simplification.

A fair trial depends on the jury understanding the law they must apply and the issues they must decide. It was once thought that this necessitated elaborate directions on the law and lengthy summaries of the evidence. Successive refinements of the law, by appellate courts and legislatures, made jury directions so complex that judges struggled to avoid error and juries struggled to understand the directions they were given. In the past two decades, however, jurisdictions in the UK and Australia have been addressing this problem, recognising that simplicity and brevity in the summing up are essential to the the integrity of trial by jury. Alone in the common law world, Victoria chose legislation as the pathway to simplification. There is also consensus that the fair trial of sexual offences requires directions which address common misconceptions about how a victim would react. This cross-jurisdictional survey examines the different approaches adopted in pursuit of common goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]