Participants will get a brief overview of juries in England and Wales and how they are supported to reach a verdict. Then, in groups, you will deliberate on a real (anonymised) criminal case. You will hear the evidence and then deliberate until you reach a unanimous decision. Each group will receive an 'evidence pack' with various statements, forensic evidence, and photographic exhibits, in order to help you make the decision. You may use notes, and will be given a routes to verdict document to help you interpret the law. At the end of the workshop, you can fill in a brief questionnaire about their decision-making and how you reached the verdict, as well as any influences from the group itself. Sarah will then give a brief summary of the factors that actually influence jury decision-making as well as the real verdict decision in the case to show why it is important we look at juries as a collective decision-making group. 

Sarah Lloyd is a Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the University of Worcester. She obtained her MSc in Forensic Psychology at Birmingham City University and worked as an Assistant Lecturer predominantly on the MSc Forensic Psychology Programme. She is in the final year of her PhD, which explores the collective decision-making processes of juries. She is interested in jury decision-making as there is little research into how juries collectively come to a decision. Additionally, research is prohibited with real jurors which means that their decision-making is shrouded in secrecy. She hopes to help increase understanding and knowledge of jury decision-making processes by replicating a real jury as closely as possible and hopes that this will lead to a fairer, more informed and transparent criminal justice system.