Under British and Australian laws a jury in a criminal case has no access to information about the defendant’s past criminal record. This protects the person who is being accused of the crime. Some lawyers have suggested that this practice should be changed and that a jury should be given all the past facts before they reach their decision about the case. In what extent do you agree or disagree?

Under British and Australian laws a jury in a criminal case has no access to information about the defendant’s past criminal record. This protects the person who is being accused of the crime. Some lawyers have suggested that this practice should be changed and that a jury should be given all the past facts before they reach their decision about the case. In what extent do you agree or disagree?

 

Ielts Essay - Concealing Part Records Of Criminals 

Giving fair trials to the accused has been a practice of law world over since ages. In countries where the jury system prevails, the jury members are not informed about the track record of the people facing trials. This allows law to take its own course and deliver impartial judgments though some people raise objections to this.

Various law experts vouch for continuation of such a system, as it helps upholding the tenets of fair trial and delivery of judgments. Concealing the past records of the people, is supposed to be the right approach to ensure a fair trial. It is the basic human right as per human rights organizations, every human should be allowed an opportunity to present their case adequately, either to prove their innocence, or more facts about the circumstances in which they committed crime.

Moreover, discrimination against ex-convicts is rampant in the society. A common notion, ‘Once a criminal always a criminal’, may not hold true in every case. The jury members are also humans, and some might act overzealously, thus, it is quite likely that jury might take predetermined decisions. Concealing past history would help ensure flawless judgments that are not biased; influenced – by adverse views of jury members; preconceived; and are arrived at by following proper procedures during investigations of the purpose and the circumstances of the offence.

However, revealing the facts of past record of the activities can prove to be substantial in case of the assessing the modus operandi of hardened criminals. This would greatly help in drawing a clear line between coincidental, otherwise unintentional first timers and the ones who are used to committing crimes frequently.

To conclude, I feel that scrapping the law of concealing past records of criminals would help in assessing crimes correctly.