Amazing, why is 12 a magical number that somehow makes it right? What if I had 4 random jurors that agreed? What if I had 9 random one's that agreed? or what if I had 11 random ones that agree?
So lets say there was a jury of 1 billion people, and 999 999 999 people found this person guilty beyond all reasonable doubt, but one person wasn't totally convinced? Out of principle then, we should NEVER discard one person's opinions, so it should be a mistrial.
I'm well aware they're not set free, and I didn't state that. I asked you, SHOULD they be set free? Linking in with your matter of principle, how can you ever convict a man, if in 2 similarly run trials (the original and the retrial), one person was still not convinced of his guilt? By your principles it would be wrong to ever discard this persons opinion, so therefore the man should never be convicted, as there is always that tiny element of doubt. But we do convict them and send them to jail.
I would like to live in the magical world you live in, but unfortunately I live in reality. Everything is a numbers game and everything is a balance.
What I would be interested in is the number of juries which are hung at 11-1, of which the accused is subsuquently found guilty at the retrial.