(790)  JURY NUMBERS REVIEW?

The BBC reports on 26 April 2008 that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is to set up a public consultation on reducing the size of criminal juries from the current number of 15, perhaps to 11 or less (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7368294.stm).  This, it is said, will bring Scotland more into line with other countries – it seems that we have the biggest juries in all of Europe – and also save some of the £4 million per annum spent on this aspect of our criminal justice system.  The one immediate thought for Scots Law News is whether a bigger number of jurors increases or decreases the chances of rational and balanced views in jury rooms – some empirical research would be useful but is not, we think, allowed.