Gökhan Eren Karakulak - 9

Under British and Australian laws a jury in a criminal case has no access to information about the defendant's past criminal record. This protects the person who is being accused of the crime.

Some lawyers have suggested that this practice should be changed and that a jury should be given all the past facts before they reach their decision about the case.

In a criminal case, relevant jury do not see information about the defendant’s past criminal record in British and Australian laws. This rule has the advantage for criminal person, and it should be changed, even it should be removed. When jury makes a decision about criminal case, they should consider the past crime of defendants. In this way, the jury can make a more accurate decision. On the other hand, this situation may push the criminal to commit more crimes.

First of all, when the jury does not see past crime of defendants, criminals are evaluate as if they offend first time. In this way, the jury may not make right decision and criminals do not get enough punishment. For example, when a car thief caught for the first time, they are punished appropriately by jury. But, when they caught for the second time, they should not get the same punishment. As it can be clear from this situation, the car thief did not learn from their mistake and they did not realize what they did was in the wrong. For this reason, the jury should definitely see past criminal record of defendants.

Secondly, the sense that culprits are already criminals can push them to commit more crimes and it becomes difficult for them to start a new life. For example, crime leaders are always the most criminals and their past criminal records are very crowded. I think the reason for this situation is the fact that they may think that they already have a criminal record. Therefore, the jury should not be impressed too much by the criminals’ past crime record.

In conclusion, it is obvious that the jury can see that past criminal record is very crucial to truth decision about criminal. At the same time, it is certain that criminal’s punishment may increase and this situation is an important factor to push criminals to commit more crimes. In a word, all people may make a mistake, but they should learn from their mistakes.