During the past decade, the jury has been subjected to serious critical attack, not only from sections of the judiciary but also from the increasingly politically articulate police (Denning, 1982; Mark, 1973; Thompson, 1980). It has been alleged that, particularly in London, the extension of the jury franchise to the entire electorate has led to the moral pollution of jury panels, which consequently tend to favour acquittal more than they ought to do and more than they were wont to do. The general arguments about the acquittal rates of professional criminals are not relevant here (see Levi, 1981, Ch. 1X, Xll; Baldwin & McConville, 1979, 1981).