In a criminal case, I do not believe the answer is as simple as a yes or no to whether one opts for a jury trial or leave it up to a judge. Recently, in Baltimore, six police officers were charged with criminal offenses by the district attorney in the death of Freddie Gray. One officer resulted in a hung jury and later all charges were dropped. All other officers had a judge either dismiss charges or find them not guilty. Politics were at play in this heavily covered case by national media.
We often pride our society for becoming more advanced and better. True, we now live in a place where medicine and technology is more advanced than that of what it used to be in the past. However, criminals still litter the world, possibly even more than it had previously. To cope, we have invented, a jury system, to help us separate the guilty from the not guilty. Twelve Angry Men provides such a story about the using of the jury.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AMERICA'S JURY SYSTEM Eighteen out of one-hundred people are summoned for jury duty each year. Each jury member a normal person whose decisions are influenced by the world’s culture and affected by their busy schedules. Therefore, Americas jury systems are no longer effective in the twenty-first century, as a result of outside opinions, beliefs, and events taking place in our world. First, jury members in today's society don't have time to recall for jury duty. In fact, jury duty is often dreaded or avoided among Americans.
The jury system continued to evolve over a period of time and eventually the United States Constitution was written to govern the jury system. The Sixth and Seventh Amendments stated that we should have 12 members and the cases were to be resolved upon a unanimous verdict (Landsman & Holderman2010). In the 1970’s the court approved juries of 12 or fewer and a non-unanimous verdict in civil cases in federal court cases. Since the evolution of the judicial system it has become easier to get jurors to come to court to do their civil duty. A list is compiled of selected jurors from voter registration and driver’s license information from the state (United States Courts, n.d.).
Jury nullification is a finding by a trial jury in contradiction to the jury's belief about the facts of the case, which occurs during a trial when jurors acquit a defendant, even though the jurors may believe the defendant to be guilty of the charges. (Legal IQ, 2017) Jurors have an obligation to follow the law, as interpreted by the trial judge when rendering a verdict; therefore, judges instruct jurors in this obligation. (Hall, 2014) However, “a defendant has no right to insist that a jury is instructed that it has the authority to nullify the law” (Hall, 2014, p. 577).
Trial jury is smaller in size compared to the grand jury, trial jury usually consists of 6-12 people. Trial jury, which is usually the type of jury we see televised, is usually open to the public, very strict, and controlled by a judge. Defendants usually are allowed to be present, as well as testify, and call witnesses if they choose to do so. A trial usually has no say so regarding the trial they are working on, usually the only thing they are allowed to do, is deliberate and come up with a final decision, also known as the verdict. The trial jury rules either in favor of the plaintiff or defendant.
Research Paper Grand Jury plays an important role in the criminal process, but it does not involve finding the guilt or punishment of a party. A grand jury determines whether criminal charges should be brought. If the grand jury returns an indictment, it is referred to as a true bill. If the grand jury refuses to indict the defendant, it is referred to as a no bill. The prosecutor instead works with the grand jury.
Jury convicted on weapons possession but acquitted on possession of the trunk contents. D’s argued that the guns were in the possession of the girl and they did not have possession. D’s challenged the constitutionality of the New York State statute which allowed a charge of illegal possession if a gun was found in a car occupied by all individuals
Jury service in adversarial court systems is an important civic duty and responsibility. Jurors have to understand and weigh up evidence presented, assess the credibility of witnesses and decide on the likelihood of certain events having occurred in the light of their own personal experiences. There has been increasing interest in whether deaf sign language users should be permitted to serve as jurors. In the USA deaf people have been serving as jurors in criminal trials since 1979. Legal challenges in the UK and Ireland have established that deaf people have the capacity to make decisions as jurors, and can sufficiently comprehend courtroom discourse and jury deliberations through a sign language interpreter (Heffernan, 2010).
In the event that you carry out a wrongdoing, you have the privilege to a reasonable trial in which the court chooses whether the administration has the privilege to bolt you up. Be that as it may, on the off chance that you don't perpetrate a wrongdoing, the legislature has the privilege to "bolt" you up (in a jury room) without wanting to and compel you to render a choice in the matter of whether the administration has the privilege to bolt up another person who has carried out a wrongdoing. Is there some kind of problem with this photo? Jury obligation is basically group administration for individuals who haven't carried out a wrongdoing. Around a half million individuals a year in New York State alone are subjected to jury obligation.
The jury trial system allows the verdict to be tried in front of a group of their peers rather than a single magistrate or judge. A large jury increases the chances of an adequate understanding of the verdict’s personal circumstances and characteristics. The jury also helps mitigate the chances of having one individual who may have certain personal biases and prejudices be the sole decider of the fate of the accused. Jurors are usually selected from different backgrounds and races which adds diverse thought and culture to the decision making process. Although jury trials have proven very effective there are disadvantages to the system.