Juries and Judges

This chapter explores the role of the jury, including how long it deliberated before arriving at a decision that could result in an execution. It analyses any subsequent actions that attempted to soften a guilty verdict’s impact, such as the addition of a rider recommending mercy. The judge could steer the jury in a particular direction through his conduct of the trial, his attitude to counsel, the tenor and frequency of his interventions, and his summing up, but once a verdict of guilty to murder was returned, his only option was to impose a death sentence. Judges had an opportunity to influence the government’s decision by communicating a written view when invited to do so. The contents of these missives, supplemented with contemporary newspaper accounts, inform the analysis. Whether there were any ‘hanging judges’ is reviewed, along with the extent to which female murderers benefited from a mixture of squeamishness, chivalry, paternalism, and precedent.