Diplock Courts - Jury Intimidation

Jury Intimidation

In his report, Lord Diplock, cited two primary reasons for his determination that jury trials should be suspended, 1) danger of perverse acquittals, and, 2) jurors had been threatened, "of which we have had ample evidence". Two years later Lord Gardiner’s review, of the removal of Trial by Jury, unconvincingly attempts to bolster Diplock’s findings as follows;

We are convinced on the evidence that we have received, that if juries were to be reintroduced for scheduled offences, their verdicts would still be subject to the influences of intimidation, or the fear of it. We have no evidence of this or of perversity in juries...

The Gardiner Report found that “no evidence” existed on which the removal of the jury was based but concluded that non-jury trials should continue.