Respect, Reform and Research: An Empirical Insight Into Judge-Jury Relations

In March 2020, a report entitled ‘Judges and Juries in Ireland: An Empirical Study’ was launched by Chief Justice Clarke at the Criminal Courts of Justice. The report summarises the research findings of a pioneering study conducted between 2017 and 2019, in which 22 judges and 11 barristers with experience of criminal jury trials were interviewed. The purpose of this research was to examine the perspectives, experiences and approaches of judges who preside over criminal trials on indictment, particularly in relation to their interactions with the jurors who determine guilt or innocence in those cases. This article presents selected findings from this study, focusing on judicial perspectives on the contemporary judge-jury relationship. A key contribution of the article is that it addresses an enduring research gap by illuminating how trial judges perceive trial by jury and their own role within it.