Statutory Review of majority verdicts amendments

The NSW Department of Communities and Justice reviewed the operation of the amendments made to the Jury Act 1977 by the Jury Amendment (Verdicts) Act 2006 to determine whether the policy objectives of those amendments remain valid and whether the terms of the amendments remain appropriate for securing those objectives. Submissions closed on 14 May 2021.

A statement of public interest can be found here.

Outcome

The review concluded that the objectives of the majority verdicts amendment remain valid. The review made one recommendation that the minimum period of deliberation for a majority verdict to be returned be reduced from 8 hours to 4 hours. This recommendation was implemented in Item 8 of the Bill.