In a trial that is.

The findings were made in a recent study carried out by the Ministry of Justice where it was discovered that women jurors are more likely to change their minds as a result of jury deliberations than men. In fact 67% of all jurors who changed their minds were women.

The research showed that while female jurors were significantly more likely to convict at the start of deliberations, when discussions were completed they were slightly less likely to convict than men. Here are the stats – 41% of women jurors voted guilty at the start of deliberations, compared to 35% of men. But, by the end of jury discussions, 33% of women said they would convict, compared to 34% of men.

Some other interesting findings also emerged:

• all-white juries do not discriminate against black defendants;

• juries convict more often than they acquit in rape cases;

• conviction rates in Crown Courts varied from 53 per cent to 69 per cent.

However, more worrying than the apparent male-female divide in the jury room and more controversial than the slaying of certain jury myths, is that two thirds of jurors do not understand what judges tell them about the law when they retire to consider their verdicts!