Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacheguy
I agree that the verdict should be respected. As a lawyer what is your opinion on the jury selection process? Can peremptory challenges be made on the basis of race? I believe that is something the Americans have changed in the last decade or so. Not sure if that was because of the Supreme Court weighing in or not.
|
Full disclosure: I have never touched a criminal law file in my life, so I am approaching this only as an interested layman. But from my hazy and distant law school memories, I recall that a jury is supposed to be composed of a collection of one's peers -- I forget the term of art that is used to describe that -- and that the concept doesn't extend to specific ethnic makeup.
A cursory search shows that the subject does seem to come up from time to time. This 2014 case from Saskatchewan suggests that while there is no requirement for a criminal trial of an Indigenous person to include a jury specifically reflective of the population, the court did make it clear that a better job could be done when it comes to improving Indigenous representation on juries in general even though doing that presents some major logistical challenges, which the judge outlines towards the end of the decision:
http://canlii.ca/t/g68f7