INDIVIDUAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF JURY UKRAINIAN COURTS

Abstract

The article presents individual psychological features of the jury and it was also justified the need to identify some features that have an impact on the process of making a balanced, reasonable and, most importantly, fair decision. The peculiarity of the formation of the jury’s internal conviction is described and the factors that influence it are named. At the present stage of the country development, there is a search for a place for the judicial system in the context of the general state and legal reform. There is a rather heated discussion about the practical renewal of the judicial system in the state and society. The basis of judicial reform is not only the implementation of an independent judiciary, ensuring its affiliation, but also the involvement of the people’s representatives (jury), before the administration of justice, which is reflected in most developed countries. The jury, unlike professional judges, does not know the field of law. They usually have a lower stress resistance threshold, morally and psychologically inexperienced; they often have a different understanding of what is going on in the courtroom; they also focus not on objective criteria, but on subjective ideas, stereotypes, emotions and personal experiences, which can be confidently attributed to the psychological characteristics of each. The main attention of this article is paid to psychological methods, techniques that should be used to select jurors to make objective verdicts. The obtained results can be the basis for creating a psychological program for the formation of a jurors’ list in their selection, which will take into account the moral, subjective and psychological qualities of each of them.