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59 Crim. L.Q. 462 (2012-2013)
Impartiality, Representativeness and Jury Selection in Canada

handle is hein.journals/clwqrty59 and id is 478 raw text is: Impartiality, Representativeness and Jury Selection in Canada Brent Kettles Only lawyers and mental defectives are automatically' exempt for jury duty. - George Bernard Shaw 1. Introduction The entitlement to be tried by a jury of one's peers has historically been considered one of the most important protections of individual liberty against the coercive exercise of state power. An institution as old as the common law itself, the jury has been viewed as the repository of common-sense community values, a bulwark against capricious prosecutors and the refuge of the much-vaunted reasonable man.' Through the power of television police procedurals, the right to have one's day in court in front of an unbiased and impartial jury is synonymous with most Canadians' understanding of the criminal trial and is widely considered a cornerstone of our legal system. The basic principle is that a group of citizens who form part of the same community as the accused are likely to be able to arrive at the truth by virtue of understanding the context, motivations and evidence related to the accused. Notwithstanding these historical and contemporary ideals, there is a substantial disconnect between the rhetoric and ideal of a trial by a jury of one's peers and the actual practice in criminal courts. The makeup and role of the jury has changed radically since medieval times. Whereas juries once had access to virtually every piece of information that had been obtained by prosecutors, elaborate rules of evidence now significantly proscribe the information that may be presented to them. Whereasjuries once decided not only the rightness * Associate, Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP. Law Clerk 2011-2012, Court of Appeal for Ontario. Juris Doctor 2011 - Osgoode Hall Law School. I. David E. Watt, Helping Jurors Understand, (Toronto: Thomson Canada Ltd.: 2007) at pp. 6-12. 462

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