Standing up for juries

Quakers and friends in Reading protested outside Reading Crown Court, along with similar demonstrators nationally, to remind jurors of their right to make decisions according to their conscience.

This right, first established in 1670 when the Recorder of London tried to compel a jury to convict two Quaker preachers, William Penn and William Mead, for holding an unlawful assembly, has been challenged recently.

[Image courtesy of Lucy Harding].