What is a special verdict?

Question

In the context of criminal proceedings, what is a special verdict?

Answer 1

There are a couple of senses of "special verdict." A true special verdict is one where the jury simply reports findings of fact and leaves it to the judge to apply the law to them. These are not available in criminal trials. See United States v. Gaudin, 515 U.S. 506 (1995).

However, the more common use of this term, and how it would generally be used in a criminal trial, is a verdict form that allows the jury to provide more information about its reasoning that led to its conclusion of guilty or not guilty. See generally, Kate H. Nepveu, "Beyond 'Guilty' or 'Not Guilty': Giving Special Verdicts in Criminal Jury Trials" (2003) 21 Yale Law & Policy Review 263.

For example, where a statute provides that an offence can be committed through a variety of "predicate" acts and the law requires that the jury be unanimous as to which of those predicate acts they are basing their conviction, a special verdict could allow courts to ensure unanimity on this point.

Special verdicts can also reveal "on which of available alternative grounds the jury convicted." This can be helpful to distinguish between, for example, felony murder or premeditated murder. It can also be useful when a judge recognizes a potential constitutional issue with one pathway to conviction and would like to provide more information to a potential appeal. If it turns out the jury did not base the conviction on the problematic pathway, the conviction will not be overturned.