The Government is talking about making jury trials harder to come by – Imho a damned good idea.
Apparently these trials take too long and back the system up.
Why do they take so much time? Try looking at the Philip Polkinghorne trial: You’ll quickly see why.
The jury has sat through about, based on reports, 15 years of evidence from both sides then listened to the attorneys and judge sum up, retired for about three minutes , claimed they can’t agree and instead of being flogged and told to get back to bloody work, the jury has been given a three-day weekend so they can come back Monday and reiterate how they are too bloody lazy to think and the whole process will need to start again.
There can be no doubt the Court of Appeal (or whomever does that for the Crown) will review and make a proper decision anyway so, personally, I’d hang the complete jury from the front of the courthouse and tell the time-waster judge to make a decision on guilt or innocence – upon which will rest his over-paid, under-worked career.
Note to the halfwits: I use exaggeration (and if I could spell it I’d use hyperbole) to make a point. Deal with it!
No Minister 
Having sat on a jury, I think they’re a joke most of the time. When your peers are idiots, a whole dozen of them aren’t qualified to decide guilt or innocence on anything. Personally, I would take my chances with most of NZ’s limp wristed commie judges over Angry of St Heliers and eleven of his unemployed/retired/student mates.
However… if you want a jury to decide your fate, you should have a right to get one empaneled for you, and nobody should take that away. It’s a deep seated principle of Anglo Saxon law. If the justice system has a problem with that, then the justice system needs to get more efficient.
Juries aren’t the road block in the justice system it’s includes the following:
Judges not starting court until 10am. Having a 20 minute break at 11.20am. 1.5 hrs for lunch at 12.30 pm. Another 20 minute at 3.00 pm. Judge starts looking at the clock at 4.30 pm….
Legal Aid lawyers. Getting paid per court hearing. First Appearance. Nothing. List date. (Not guilty). Case Review (Not guilty) Sentence Indication or Trial (Change plea prior to trial starting). Ching ching $$$$.
Guilty. Right, lets postpone sentencing for two months seeking a pre-sentence report.
Rural Courts. Perfectly good court houses only open 6-7 days a month.
Defendant no show. Warrant issued. Get found and locked up sometime in the future. No consequences- re bail and set a new court date 3 months later.
Trial date set. Witnesses show up. Prosecutor good to go. Lawyer rings in, sorry Judge gotta conflict with another court appointment in another town or Judge has got a sniffle or is running late. Okay. All cases postponed to another date months later.
Court schedules 5 trials for a day when only enough time to hear 2. All defendants go not guilty. Opps put of three to a new trial date in six months.
Reserve trials. Set trials to go on a date but also include a couple of reserve trials in case the main ones fall over. Guess what, they don’t. Never mind that civilian and prosecution witnesses still have to show up. Postponed for another six months. Lots of grumpy people….
Exactly. No one has ever devised a system of time wasting that could compete with courts.
Also, while juries may be composed of fools, the average judge is no improvement. A judge is basically a lawyer with a massive ego who gets far too much deference and respect.