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When Two Jurors Say “Not Guilty” and It Doesn’t Matter
Dr. Nisha Waller is the racial justice lead at the UK legal charity Appeal and co-author of Doubt Dismissed, a report tracing the hidden history of non-unanimous jury verdicts. She explains why “majority verdicts” are not neutral reform but a structural shortcut that makes convictions easier—often at the cost of fairness.
Waller’s research focuses on England and Wales, where unanimous jury decisions were replaced in 1967 with majority verdicts under a public claim of stopping jury tampering. But in the archives, she found something else: anxiety about immigration, race, and class—plus open contempt for working-class and Caribbean jurors. Her argument is simple: if one or two jurors heard the same evidence and still doubt guilt, that doubt is real—and the system is designed to ignore it.
The conversation connects directly to Jamaica. Jamaica now allows conviction even when the jury is split, and the jury itself has been reduced from 12 to 7—meaning 5 people can decide someone’s fate for life. Waller warns that “efficiency” arguments (backlog, speed, cost) routinely beat “accuracy” arguments, even though the damage of wrongful conviction is permanent. She frames it as state violence: when the state cages an innocent person for decades, that is harm on the same scale as street violence—just dressed up as procedure.
Waller also explains why the public is kept in the dark. In the UK, strict jury secrecy rules block researchers from studying real deliberations and can even stop courts from investigating allegations of racism inside the jury room. Her position: secrecy should not override justice. If courts can’t investigate bias and researchers can’t study decision-making, governments are rewriting jury rules without evidence.
Key Themes
➤ Why “majority verdicts” inherently dismiss reasonable doubt
➤ The 1967 UK shift and the racial/class panic behind it
➤ Jamaica’s 7-person jury and the risk of 5–2 convictions
➤ Backlog “efficiency” vs. fairness and accuracy
➤ Jury secrecy blocks research and shields racism claims
➤ Ramos v. Louisiana and how the US ended split verdicts
➤ Why Waller calls wrongful convictions “state violence”
➤ The larger system: policing, charging, disclosure failures
➤ Joint Enterprise and racial disparity in convictions
➤ The need for data: verdict tracking and independent review
Chapter Breakdown
00:00 — Conviction at All Costs
00:33 — Jamaica’s Split-Jury Reality
01:35 — Meet Dr. Nisha Waller
02:47 — Why She Studies Wrongful Convictions
05:42 — Doubt Dismissed: UK’s 1967 Switch
09:15 — Jamaica Cuts the Jury to Seven
14:12 — 56+ Cases and No Official Data
18:04 — Jury Secrecy Stops Real Oversight
22:06 — Ramos Ends Split Verdicts in US
25:02 — The Whole System Creates Miscarriages
Connect with Dr. Nisha Waller
LinkedIn: Dr Nisha Waller - APPEAL
Brought to you by The Wave on The Frequency Network.
More About Andrew Wildes
Explore the work of Andrew Wildes—Jamaican lawyer, journalist, and host of Stuck: Wrongful Convictions in Jamaica. His mission is to expose systemic injustice, amplify the voices of the wrongfully imprisoned, and drive meaningful legal reform through storytelling and advocacy.
For updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes content, follow Andrew across platforms and join the conversation on justice in Jamaica.
Production, Distribution, and Marketing
Produced by Massif Studio & Production and The Tallawah Group.
For inquiries/sponsoring: email [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
View all episodes
By The Frequency Network: The WaveDr. Nisha Waller is the racial justice lead at the UK legal charity Appeal and co-author of Doubt Dismissed, a report tracing the hidden history of non-unanimous jury verdicts. She explains why “majority verdicts” are not neutral reform but a structural shortcut that makes convictions easier—often at the cost of fairness.
Waller’s research focuses on England and Wales, where unanimous jury decisions were replaced in 1967 with majority verdicts under a public claim of stopping jury tampering. But in the archives, she found something else: anxiety about immigration, race, and class—plus open contempt for working-class and Caribbean jurors. Her argument is simple: if one or two jurors heard the same evidence and still doubt guilt, that doubt is real—and the system is designed to ignore it.
The conversation connects directly to Jamaica. Jamaica now allows conviction even when the jury is split, and the jury itself has been reduced from 12 to 7—meaning 5 people can decide someone’s fate for life. Waller warns that “efficiency” arguments (backlog, speed, cost) routinely beat “accuracy” arguments, even though the damage of wrongful conviction is permanent. She frames it as state violence: when the state cages an innocent person for decades, that is harm on the same scale as street violence—just dressed up as procedure.
Waller also explains why the public is kept in the dark. In the UK, strict jury secrecy rules block researchers from studying real deliberations and can even stop courts from investigating allegations of racism inside the jury room. Her position: secrecy should not override justice. If courts can’t investigate bias and researchers can’t study decision-making, governments are rewriting jury rules without evidence.
Key Themes
➤ Why “majority verdicts” inherently dismiss reasonable doubt
➤ The 1967 UK shift and the racial/class panic behind it
➤ Jamaica’s 7-person jury and the risk of 5–2 convictions
➤ Backlog “efficiency” vs. fairness and accuracy
➤ Jury secrecy blocks research and shields racism claims
➤ Ramos v. Louisiana and how the US ended split verdicts
➤ Why Waller calls wrongful convictions “state violence”
➤ The larger system: policing, charging, disclosure failures
➤ Joint Enterprise and racial disparity in convictions
➤ The need for data: verdict tracking and independent review
Chapter Breakdown
00:00 — Conviction at All Costs
00:33 — Jamaica’s Split-Jury Reality
01:35 — Meet Dr. Nisha Waller
02:47 — Why She Studies Wrongful Convictions
05:42 — Doubt Dismissed: UK’s 1967 Switch
09:15 — Jamaica Cuts the Jury to Seven
14:12 — 56+ Cases and No Official Data
18:04 — Jury Secrecy Stops Real Oversight
22:06 — Ramos Ends Split Verdicts in US
25:02 — The Whole System Creates Miscarriages
Connect with Dr. Nisha Waller
LinkedIn: Dr Nisha Waller - APPEAL
Brought to you by The Wave on The Frequency Network.
More About Andrew Wildes
Explore the work of Andrew Wildes—Jamaican lawyer, journalist, and host of Stuck: Wrongful Convictions in Jamaica. His mission is to expose systemic injustice, amplify the voices of the wrongfully imprisoned, and drive meaningful legal reform through storytelling and advocacy.
For updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes content, follow Andrew across platforms and join the conversation on justice in Jamaica.
Production, Distribution, and Marketing
Produced by Massif Studio & Production and The Tallawah Group.
For inquiries/sponsoring: email [email protected]
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices