Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

JURIES ACT 1967 - SECT 42BA

    (1)     A person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the person is a juror for a criminal trial; and

        (b)     the person makes an inquiry; and

        (c)     the inquiry was made—

              (i)     after the person is sworn as a juror and before being discharged; and

              (ii)     for the purpose of obtaining information about any matter relating to the trial; and

        (d)     the inquiry was not made in the proper exercise of the person's functions as a juror.

Maximum penalty: imprisonment for 2 years.

    (2)     Subsection (1) does not apply to a person making an inquiry authorised by the court.

Note     The defendant has an evidential burden in relation to the matters mentioned in s (2) (see Criminal Code

, s 58).

    (3)     For this section, an inquiry made in contravention of a direction, or permission, given to the jury by the judge is not a proper exercise of the person's functions as a juror.

    (4)     In this section:

"making an inquiry" includes any of the following:

        (a)     asking a question of another person;

        (b)     conducting any research;

        (c)     viewing or inspecting any place or object;

        (d)     conducting an experiment;

        (e)     causing another person to make an inquiry.

Examples—making an inquiry

1     conducting research using the internet to search an electronic database for information

2     bringing information into the jury room, such as news articles, research papers or books