NSW:Jury brings common sense to trial:NSW AG=2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2011
NSW:Jury brings common sense to trial:NSW AG=2

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said a strong argument would have to be presented before
jury trials in criminal cases were abolished.

"I'd need convincing before we abolished juries in NSW, I think it is one of our long
held rights, one of those long held democratic tenets that we've all signed up to," Mr
O'Farrell told reporters on Wednesday.

"I think cabinet would have to have a huge weight of evidence before we gave away jury trials.

He said it would be no good replacing one system with another that had its own particular
problems.

"I notice that where trials aren't always conducted by juries that there seems to be
an increasing delay in getting decisions handed down," he added.

"I don't want to replace a system... with another system that's going to be even less perfect."

AAP smk/af/mm

KEYWORD: JURIES 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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