Secrets of the Jury Room

Lawyers and judges speak platitudes about the wisdom and commonsense and community values juries bring to bear, but it's clear from Malcolm Knox's recent experience of a long jury trial that this is a legal fiction. He found chillingly apposite an old legal adage: you'd love to be in front of a jury if you'd committed a crime, but hate to be in front of one when you hadn't. From the extraordinary story unfolding in the courtroom, to the equally amazing account of how events unfolded in the jury room during the trial, to interviews with barristers, solicitors and other players in the criminal justice system, Malcolm investigates the tricks of the trade and sketches the vast difference between what courts think juries should be and what juries really are. The results are guaranteed to blow the mind of anyone interested in justice and how it works in Australia.

One of Australia's most highly acclaimed and versatile writers, Malcolm Knox has published five books. The former literary editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Malcolm won a Walkley award in 2004 for the expose of fraudulent author Norma Khouri. He was runner up for Journalist of the Year 2004 and was named one of 2001's Best Young Novelists by the Sydney Morning Herald for his first novel, Summerland.