Problems of jury trial implementation in district and city courts of small towns

From 01.06.2018 the Federal Law of 23.07.2016 entered into force no. 209-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law ‘On Jurors of Federal Courts of General Jurisdiction in the Russian Federation’ ”, which introduced new principles for the consideration of criminal cases by a jury, for example, consideration of criminal cases with the participation of a jury, with the specifics stipulated by law, now it is possible at the level of city and district courts of general jurisdiction. These innovations became the next stage in the introduction into the Russian judicial system of considering criminal cases in court with the participation of jurors. Although the institution of the jury itself has existed in Russian law since 2004, reasonable questions arise: is the judicial system ready to apply this institution at the level of district and city courts, which bear the main burden of considering criminal cases, and is it really necessary to apply it specifically in this stage of legal proceedings?