Juries in a criminal trial.
Petit Jury
Texas juries are required to reach a unanimous verdict in criminal cases, meaning that all members of the jury must agree on the defendant's guilt or innocence. If the jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict, it results in a hung jury and the case may be retried.
Yes. Juries are groups of 6 or 12 people given the task of finding a verdict in a case. Often, they must deliberate and reach a unanimous verdict. Typically, the jurors will gather in a room and discuss their individual impressions on the trial they've witnessed and reach an agreement on the verdict.
Federal criminal juries need to reach a unanimous decision, but the courts have ruled that state criminal juries can have less than unanimous. Only two states allow this. Louisiana and Oregon allow 10-2 verdicts.
The Jury.
It depends on the state
If the jury cannot reach a verdict, the judge may find them to be a hung jury and declare a mistrial.
It depends on the country, in England and Wales, the judge can instruct the jury that a majority verdict is acceptable if the jury can't reach a unanimous verdict. ANSWER 99.9% of the time, in the US, it has to be unanimous one way or the other or it is a mistrial. There are some states with statutes that allow 9-3, 10-2, or 11-1 either way to be a conviction or acquittal, but for the most part, it has to be 12-0 for guilty or not guilty or it must be redone. Some districts have juries or 6 or 8 for misdemeanors or even felonies. Normally they have to be unanimous, but it depends on the rules of the court. Again 99.9% of the time, it must be unanimous, but there are exceptions.
In a criminal trial, the jury's verdict must be unanimous in order to convict the defendant of guilt. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, it results in a hung jury and could lead to a mistrial.
No. Indeed in Scottish law there is provision for a 3rd outcome: Not Proven. It was once the case that juries had to be unanimous, but now they have majority verdicts. Sometimes a majority decision cannot be reached.
In the history of juries, obviously some verdicts have been "unjust". However, it works better than leaving it to a local Baron or warlord.
There is no one definite answer. Some juries can reach a verdict in a matter of minutes, some can take hours, and some can take days. There are occasions when a jury cannot reach a verdict, no matter how hard they try and they are called a hung jury. In case of a hung jury, the law will decide if to try the case again, or to drop the matter completely.
In United States jurisprudence an Allen Charge is the set of instructions given to a jury when, after deliberation, it reports that it is deadlocked and unable to decide on a verdict. The purpose of the instruction is to encourage jurors to re-examine their opinions and attempt to reach a unanimous verdict if possible