Juror confidence in justice: democratic participation or deference to authority?

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Australia will be better protected from terrorism and crime if its justice system has the confidence of its citizens. Currently it does not. Without such confidence, justice offers neither a credible deterrent nor a protector of rights. Courts are typically designed and run using a hierarchical model of authority, while new therapeutic and restorative approaches make justice processes more democratic. There is little evidence of how either of these impacts on justice for participants. Understanding the process by which people develop trust during one critical adjudicative process, the jury trial, will allow juries, and other forms of lay decision-making in judicial processes, to be used more effectively in the justice system.