Formation of the trial jury in the period of the pandemic: Russian and foreign experience

Abstract

The prerequisites for the research were formed by a complex collision between the legal nature of proceedings in the jury court and the standard sanitary and epidemiological restrictions. This collision was revealed in the course of the theoretical treatment of administration of justice in the pandemic period. The primary stage of judicial proceedings involving the participation of the jury was highlighted by the authors as a subject of the research – formation of the trial jury, where the said collision appears to be especially acute. The purpose of the study was to search for possible solutions to this collision; the objective – verification of the hypothesis stating that the pandemic situation has engendered a significant modification of the procedural form of trial jury selection. To resolve this problem, the normative approach, along with the method of legal comparative studies, was used: the criminal procedure legislation and the practice of its enforcement in the Russian Federation and a number of foreign countries was analysed. General logical methods were used: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction and progression from the abstract to the concrete, etc. The result of the research is the identification of special approaches in the Russian and foreign models of court proceedings involving the participation of the jury, reflecting the intention to adjust the procedure of trial jury formation to the pandemic period requirements: telecommuted formation of the trial jury in full or in part; replacing verbal questioning of candidates to the jury with a written questionnaire; extending the questioning of jury candidates through the inclusion of specific issues concerning the epidemiological situation. The hypothesis proposed in the publication was confirmed, in particular, relative to the Russian court proceedings with the participation of the jury.