<p> Jury presentation</p><p>Independent juries and understanding complex law</p><p>One advantage about our jury system in England and Wales is that the jury involves 12 laypeople from the general public. This means that the jury have no involvement with the law and are completely separate from the legal jurisdiction. The trial can therefore be heard before there peers and ordinary citizens can apply local knowledge and value. i Lord Denning described jury service as giving ‘ordinary folk their finest lesson in citizenship.ii In 1990 study by the Runnymede Trust found that black defendants charged with an either way offence would more likely to opt for jury trial rather than white defendant in the same position. This is because if a defendant believes the magistrates are biased, there trust in the legal system is reduced.</p><p>On the other hand, the law of juries is in need of reform because they cannot understand complex cases of law. iiiJuries may need to seek fro advice off the judge on certain issuers of the law which are unclear or they are uncertain on a piece of law. In 1986, The Roskil Commitee on Fraud Trials reported that trial by jury for the most complex fraud cases should be abolished due to juries not understanding the complex law of the case. It estimates that this is about 24 cases a year. The Royal Commission on the Criminal Jury System 1993 realised the difficulty facing jurors in complex fraud trials and instead of total abolishment, it merely recommended that s10(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 should be amended to permit judges to put the issues before a jury at the outset of a trial. </p><p>One in which the Home Office has tried to overcome these difficulties is they issued a Green Paper entitles’ juries in serious fraud trials’. The consultation paper suggested new procedure in relation to the complex fraud trials. One example of this is to have a special juror where 11 of the jury would be selected like normal but the 12th juror would be specially qualified in order to able assist others on complex points. i http://sixthformlaw.info/01_modules/mod1/1_5_lay_people/1_5_2_juries/12_adv_disadv_juries.htm - advantages and disadvantages of juries. 5/11/10 ii English legal system by Catherine Elliot and Frances Quinn Eleventh edition p.250 5/11/10 iii English legal system by Catherine Elliot and Frances Quinn Eleventh edition p. 251 7/11/10</p>