Top judge warns of internet threat to jury trials

Court-based tweeting is likely to increase the risk of a mistrial, and misuse of the internet by jurors must stop if the jury system is to survive, the country's most senior judge said.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, warned it was all too easy for campaigners to bombard the micro-blogging site Twitter with messages in a bid to influence the outcome of a hearing.

"We cannot stop people tweeting, but if jurors look at such material, the risks to the fairness of the trial will be very serious, and ultimately the openness of the trial process on which we all rely would be damaged," he said.

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"We have to remember that tweets stay on the internet and to allow court-based tweeting is likely to increase the potential for prejudicial material regarding a defendant or a witness to become available on the internet."

He added: "We welcome advances in technology, provided that we are its masters and it is our tool and servant."

Lord Judge questioned whether the text-based transmission of material from a courtroom should be banned, saying he could find no statutory prohibition on its use, but tape recordings were banned under the Contempt of Court Act.

"Why is Twitter in the form of text-based transmission of material from court any different?" he asked. "This question has yet to be decided, and the decision may have a considerable impact on our processes."

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The top judge in England and Wales also called for tougher warnings for jurors about using the internet during trials.

"I have to be blunt about this, but in my view if the jury system is to survive as the system for a fair trial in which we all believe and support, the misuse of the internet by jurors must stop," he said.

"I think we must spell this out to them yet more clearly."

Information on the consequences of misusing the internet must be given to every juror, must be reflected in the video which jurors see before they start a trial and judges must continue to direct juries "in unequivocal terms from the very outset of the trial", he said.

He also called for notices in jury rooms to identify "potential contempt of court arising from discussions outside the jury room of their debates to be extended to any form of reference to the internet".

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He said: "We cannot accept that the use of the internet, or rather its misuse, should be acknowledged and treated as an ineradicable fact of life, or that a Nelsonian blind eye should be turned to it or the possibility that it is happening.

"If it is not addressed, the misuse of the internet represents a threat to the jury system which depends, and rightly depends, on evidence provided in court which the defendant can hear and challenge."

Lord Judge said it may be necessary for judges to back up their directions to jurors not to look up their case on the internet with "an express warning that breach of the order might constitute a contempt of court", punishable by a maximum two-year jail sentence.

He also asked whether jurors should be warned that "one day it may become necessary to deal with it as if it is (contempt), and then to treat it with the seriousness it requires".

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