The Criminal Trial Jury: Erosion of Jury Power
Howard Scroll: The Social Justice Law Review Vol. 5, No.1, 2002
62 Pages Posted: 21 Aug 2008
Date Written: 2002
Abstract
Assaults on our liberties, including the right to trial by jury, are numerous and multifaceted. Given our efforts at jury reform, we should strenuously avoid a lessening of citizens' perception of their power to have an impact on the criminal justice system. The critics of today's jury are focused on the wrong issue. They cite some of the dramatic cases of recent times as proof that the jury is not properly functioning.
This article addresses the concerns of those critics by challenging the underlying premise that the membership of the jury should be altered, or that we need not use juries to decide criminal cases at all. Viewed in a proper, comprehensive perspective, perhaps the jury is injured and in need of repair. The author challenges the sometimes elitist notion that U.S. juries are incompetent, unintelligent, confused, too political or just plain angry at the system. Those who espouse the view that the modem day jury is vindictive also fail to cite examples of justice that are dispensed by the common citizens who participate in the judicial process on a day-to-day basis.
Now is not the time to fundamentally alter an institutional component that has served us well. Time is ripe, however, to bolster the jury component of our criminal justice system. It is imperative to provide the jurors with everything necessary to allow the jury to better perform its function. We would be wise to hesitate prior to advancing any theory that will result in the elimination of the citizen voice on our juries. Community ownership of the outcome of disputes, regardless of the decision, is a necessary component of our democracy. We must be careful not to subvert justice by popular demand.
Keywords: jury power, criminal trial jury, reform, civil rights, minorities, women, democracy, criminal justice system, diverse, capable, unfair
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