Finding The Guilty One: Media Sensationalism, Defendant’s Performance, and Jury Equity

Lisa Ballantyne’s debut novel The Guilty One (2012) “tackles the ambi- tious, gritty, and emotive subject of child-on-child murder through a consuming psychological lens.”1 Starting from a cultural analysis that considers post-Bulger England’s jurisprudence in relation to children who kill, this paper investigates on how the jury’s decision-making process is influenced by factors that intervene in the trial phases. Pre-trial media sensationalism and during-trial child defen- dant’s performance may affect the jury’s vision of the case, and may alter the perspective from which the case is looked at. Three main factors will be taken into account: media sensationalism, the defendant’s performance at trial, and the possibility of the jury to bypass the letter of the Law in the name of equity, all of which partake in the jury’s decision-making process, potentially determining the final verdict