CURRENT ISSUES OF JURY TRIAL REFORM IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN UKRAINE

The author examines in the article the aspect of the functioning of the jury trial and topical issues of reforming this institution in the criminal proceedings of Ukraine. Given the existence of a small amount of research on the prospects of reforming the jury and their prognostic nature, there is a need to analyze current bills to reform the jury, which determines the purpose of the author's study. Based on the works of domestic scientists and the current legal framework, as well as the study of statistics of jury trials, the author concluded that the real impact of jurors on the implementation of criminal proceedings is negligible. However, this fact allows us to determine the need to amend a number of regulations of Ukraine in order to expand the competence of juries and realize their inherent potential. The author, having analyzed the current bills to improve the regulation of the jury institute in criminal proceedings, examined the proposed changes and found that they are aimed at introducing in Ukraine the classical model of the jury trial. Among the proposed innovations, the author draws attention to the main ones, namely: the responsibility of the State Judicial Administration for the formation of juries is assigned instead of local councils; granting the right to the State Judicial Administration to use the information of the State Register of Voters; increase in the number of jurors; establishing the position of the chairman of the jury and giving him the appropriate competence; empowering jurors to decide the guilt or innocence of the accused; the possibility of appealing the verdicts handed down on the basis of a jury verdict. The changes proposed in the draft laws to improve the institution of a jury trial in criminal proceedings, if included in the legislative framework of Ukraine, will help turn the jury trial into an effective mechanism for exercising the right of the people to participate directly in the administration of justice. In addition, to better understand the proposed changes, the author reviewed and analyzed the experience of countries where the Anglo-American model of jury trial is applied on the example of the United States, Canada and England. Finally, the author notes his own opinion on the feasibility of introducing the AngloAmerican model of jury trial in Ukraine.