A jury consists of 12 persons chosen to decide who has the best lawyer. (ROBERT FROST) The ancient institution of the jury, and the system of trial built around it, is coming under increasing attack - from lawyers, from policemen, from jurors themselves. They say that the acquittal rate is too high; the average juror often doesn'understand what is going on; the system is haphazard and prevents an effective appeal procedure; it is high time to replace ' this apotheosis of amateurism' with something less dated and less fallible. While, according to some, our system of criminal justice - founded on the jury-is the best in the world, to others, this means no more than that the alternative systems are appallingly bad. On film with Michael Molyneux , and in the studio with Desmond Wilcox , Man Alive looks at the criticisms and asks the lawyers, policemen and laymen to suggest alternatives.