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History of the jury system essay
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The jury system has been around for hundreds of years. It first came to be at the year 1733 an case in colonial New York that involved John Peter Zenger who worked for a newspaper company. John was tried for speaking against the government and making people stand by his side for he said that his criticisms were true. For the government to avoid this he created what we call today a jury system to help the judge figure if he was guilty or innocent. Most of the time the jury is wrong because most cases they don't have enough evidence to put the defendant in prison so most of the time the jury will say he or she is innocent.
In (Doc B) it states that most of the jury system will have people who know the defendant. Moat of the time this will lead to the defendant to be innocent because the jury system has what they call the “sacred cow” which means that if someone you know is the jury for your trial you'll be saved from being guilty. It also states that being in a jury system it could be long and stressful. Most of the trials can last for days even for weeks depending on the case that is being held. It also states that if you know somebody in the jury that has lots of respect for you they will help you in anyway they can and prevent you from being considered guilty. Only professionals should be allowed to be in jury duty because they are more educated and can figure out more things to the case.
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It says that a mother killed her daughter. The jury states that they have all the evidence they needed but is still not enough to prove that the mother is guilty with murder. The defendant's lawyer says that she didn't kill her daughter because the daughter was far from the incident and that the mothers driving was pretty bad. The jury found her innocent but at the same time the mother was counted for lying to
In the Jury system mini Q document A, the second chart shows that in around 2300 jury trials only around 300 people are Acquitted, while in Bench trials about a third of the people are acquitted. This shows that the jury system works a far larger percentage of the time while the bench trial lets a lot of people go. In the Jury system mini Q document C, John Gastil says “the framers of the United states Constitution viewed the jury system as a critically important feature.” This shows that the framers had originally intended for there to be a trial by jury for every case in order for democracy to shine through and be the leading form of government that our country
Should America have compulsory voting? In my opinion, compulsory voting is a good way to increase the voting turnout. People currently don't like to vote because they don't have the time, or are just too lazy. If the government gives them an incentive then they will be happy to take time off to vote. Also, a reason to fear not to vote should be installed, like an annoying fine. When only a few people vote, the voter satisfaction is low. But when everyone puts their idea in, the satisfaction rises because the actual majority will win.
This chapter is mainly devoted to the jury selection process and how it is taken care
The jury system originated in England and has so far failed in cases (all too common) when defendants are wrongfully prosecuted or convicted of crimes which they did not commit. In societies without a jury system, panels of judges act as decision makers.
In the United States, jury trials are an important part of our court system. We rely heavily on the jury to decide the fate of the accused. We don’t give a second thought to having a jury trial now, but they were not always the ‘norm’.
At first, Juror 3 appears to be a successful businessman who owns a messenger service. Yet as time goes on, one may see him as a sour and unhappy man. He wants to base the case solely on the evidence presented at the trial. Throughout the meeting in the jury room, Juror 3 disregards all other evidence brought up by Juror 8 and the others. He says that the evidence revealed may not be accurate or true. Therefore, it should not be taken into consideration.
The jury system is essentially a descendant of Great Britain, the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Colonialism played a significant role in the development of the jury system globally. However, despite colonial influence, judicial systems across the world have taken their own way. As a result, the jury system has developed and changed to suit the needs and social conscience of different countries. Across the world, juries examine and decide the facts in a jury trial, the accuracy of the testimony, the guilt or innocence of criminal defendants, and liabilities in a civil litigation. Today, many countries such as Britain, United States, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, German, India, and so on practice jury trials. These countries will be the issue of discussion in this paper.
The jury plays a crucial role in the courts of trial. They are an integral part in the Australian justice system. The jury system brings ordinary people into the courts everyday to judge whether a case is guilty or innocent. The role of the jury varies, depending on the different cases. In Australia, the court is ran by an adversary system. In this system “..individual litigants play a central part, initiating court action and largely determining the issues in dispute” (Ellis 2013, p. 133). In this essay I will be discussing the role of the jury system and how some believe the jury is one of the most important institutions in ensuring that Australia has an effective legal system, while others disagree. I will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a jury system.
A jury is a panel of citizens, selected randomly from the electoral role, whose job it is to determine guilt or innocence based on the evidence presented. The Jury Act 1977 (NSW) stipulates the purpose of juries and some of the legal aspects, such as verdicts and the right of the defence and prosecution to challenge jurors. The jury system is able to reflect the moral and ethical standards of society as members of the community ultimately decide whether the person is guilty or innocent. The creation of the Jury Amendment Act 2006 (NSW) enabled the criminal trial process to better represent the standards of society as it allowed majority verdicts of 11-1 or 10-2, which also allowed the courts to be more resource efficient. Majority verdicts still ensure that a just outcome is reached as they are only used if there is a hung jury and there has been considerable deliberation. However, the role of the media is often criticized in relation to ensuring that the jurors remain unbiased as highlighted in the media article “Independent Juries” (SMH, 2001), and the wide reporting of R v Gittany 2013 supports the arguments raised in the media article. Hence, the jury system is moderately effective in reflecting the moral and ethical standards of society, as it resource efficient and achieves just outcomes, but the influence of the media reduces the effectiveness.
... In a speech to the House of Lords in 1844 Lord Denman remarked: 'Trial by jury itself, instead of being a security to persons who are accused, will. be a delusion, a mockery and a snare. The question of juror competence remains a recurrent feature in both the research and policy. literature (Horowitz et al., 1996; Penrod & Heuer, 1997). Indeed, in the. 1998 the Home Office invited commentary on whether an alternative to the traditional jury system was appropriate for cases of serious fraud.
Some of the people in the world always ask themselves this question when in the court room “ WHY DID OUR FOUNDING FATHERS EXPECT CITIZEN JURIES TO JUDGE OUR LAWS AS WELL AS THE GUILT OF THE INDIVIDUAL ?” Well the answer is really simple its Because: "If a juror accepts as the law that which the judge states then that juror has accepted the exercise of absolute authority of a government employee and has surrendered a power and right that once was the citizen's safeguard of liberty." (1788) (2 Elliots Debates, 94, Bancroft, History of the Constitution, 267) "Jury nullification of law", as it is sometimes called, is a traditional American right defended by the Founding Fathers. Those Patriots intended the jury serve as one of the tests a law must pass before it assumes enough popular authority to be enforced. Thus the Constitution provides five separate tribunals with veto power -- representatives, senate, executive, judges and jury -- that each enactment of law must pass before it gains the authority to punish those who choose to violate it.
So the first reading that convinced me having a jury system was a bad idea was document F. This was a passage from a book called Roughing It by Mark Twain. He talks about a murder that happened in Virginia and how a prominent banker and valued citizen was denied to be on the case because he knew about the case beforehand. This circulated in my head and did not make sense to me, the jury would rather be full of unvalued citizens who have no
Mitchell and Daniel Eckstein describes a jury as a group who are chosen to perform a duty without training. Juries are not qualified for decision making because they don’t know the efficient way. Just because one person think one way everyone isn’t going to agree with that person. Mitchell and Eckstein focus on Janis’s seven antecedent conditions for groupthink. A significant risk of jury decisions being tainted by groupthink are cohesiveness, insulation, lack of a tradition of impartial leadership, lack of norms requiring methodical producers, homogeneity of social background, and temporarily low-self-induced by situational factors (Griffin, 2014, p. 117). As being in a group the outcome can cause problems because of groupthink. Groupthink will and can make the wrong decisions from deciding as a group. With decision-making, you will know the consequences behind your decisions. Groupthink will be completely different because juries make takes certain situations in consideration but, the judge have the last
Mention the pros and cons of our jury system and possible alternatives of it. Also, identify the group dynamics of the jury members
Twelve Angry Men brings up a few issues the criminal justice system has. The jury selection is where issue number one arises. “A jury of one’s peer’s acts as an important check in cases where a defendant fears that the local justice system may have a prejudice against him, or in corruption cases in which the judiciary itself may be implicated” (Ryan). Deciding one 's future or even fate, in this case, is no easy task, as depicted by the 8th juror.