American Jury History

A jury is a person who is un-qualified and not paid who is selected at random to participate in the court hearing. To be

In considering the effectiveness of the jury system, it is first necessary to understand the roles of juries. Primarily, a jury is a body of legally unqualified citizens who agree on a verdict based on evidence

Every day people are convicted of crimes or arrested for other reasons. Once they are convicted they are summoned to court, this begins the jury process. Citizens are randomly chosen to serve on jury duty. The citizens on the jury will use the jury system to determine if the person being accused is guilty or innocent. Trials can become very long or they can be short it just depends on the topic and how long it takes to decide on what the consequences will be. The jury system is the main trial and the main decision of whether or not someone is right or wrong.

The jury system has been used in the criminal trial since the Constitution stated “the trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury.”

Based on the United States Constitution, all citizens have the right to a “Trial by Jury,” which is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision in order to direct the actions of a judge. A jury pool is randomly selected first, and then the potential jurors are notified. After, “Voir Dire,” or jury selection, occurs where twelve people are chosen for jury duty.

There are certain aspects of the United States’ government that seem to be at the core of ensuring democracy for all citizens. These ideas include representative leaders like the President, or the bicameral legislature. Similarly, the jury system is another structure of the government that many people hold close to their hearts. Although it seems like the ultimate way that the citizens can self-govern, is the jury system really the best way to reach a verdict in civil and/or criminal cases? The bottom line is that the jury system is an outdated structure. Specifically, bench trials, or trials decided only by a judge, are much more effective than jury trials because judges are more educated, less susceptible to popular influence, and are not

The Constitution guarantees us a right to a trial by a jury in serious criminal hearings. The jury job is to weed out the facts by reviewing the evidence and deliberating on a verdict based on an agreement of three-fourths or five-sixths of the jurors (How Are Potential Jurors Selected, 2016), (How Courts Work, 2016).

The jury system is an old institution, predating England’s Magna Carta. Its essence in providing checks and balances, and allowing fair trial by peers is virtuous. Granting juries the power and discretion we do, expresses our trust in an institution that is fundamental to our vision of democratic governance, and our confidence that jury verdicts can be impartial, and accurate. The vital role in which the jury plays in

A jury is a group of people who give a verdict in a legal case based on evidence provided to them in court. The idea of a jury dates back to 1215 the Magna Carta era, where King John of England agreed to mend himself (kings) to laws related to the management of kings and queens, representatives of the church and citizens. In Australia jury duty is a compulsory engagement. According to the Queensland government website a pool of 18-70 people are randomly selected from the electoral role. Additionally, from the 18-70 randomly selected people, 12 are handpicked by the defence and the prosecution to be jurors in the trial. Both the defence and the prosecution must agree on the jurors to eliminate potential bias.

Justice Evatt delivered a paper to the Australian Legal Convention which entitled “The Jury System in Australia” in 1936 . Justice Evatt’s thesis of Jury trials was that “in modern day society the jury system is regarded as an essential feature of real democracy”. Jury trials in the nineteenth century were found way before in four colonies Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia . When Trial by Judge alone was first introduced in South Australian thirty eight were held in the Supreme Court between 1989 and 1993, meaning all annual percentage of all criminal trials in the court ranged between 3.9% and 8.9% . The Juries Act SA 1927 was amended many times making some major changes. In 1966, women were introduced in the South Australian Jury system as only men were capable of serving on Juries. An increase to the number of jurors available to contribute in a criminal trial was amended in 2004 . It now states in the Juries Act 1927 under section 6A that if court agrees there are good reasons to add additional jurors of 2 or 3 it can be empanelled for a criminal trial .

stated in the 7th Amendment of the US Constitution. People view the jury as an important part of citizens lives. Without the jury, judges would be in charge of deciding if people were guilty or innocent of crimes. People would have no ability to debate if the person accused was guilty or innocent. The jury system has a special role in the people’s right of popular sovereignty. These people are proud of the jury system and are glad it’s a

The responsibility of the jury in criminal and civil cases is to “determine questions of fact” and apply law as set out by the judge and then, with these facts and evidence, come up with a verdict.

Throughout history no man nor congress created what would be known today as the Jury System. This system began as an open book for many to occupy, but no one really knew where they stood, until recently, now that it has evolved to the modern conditions presented in the country. The first sign of the jury system being used amongst the criminal justice system was when Democracy was first created. Melvyn Zerman, a publisher sales executive wrote a book Beyond a Reasonable Doubt where he examines the jury system in depth and gives a history overview where it all began. For this, Zerman began with the first encounter in history with a jury system. Around 4th century B.C., Athenians in Ancient Greece viewed their world as “a nation of lawyers and a nation without lawyers” (p. 15). The meaning “a nation of lawyers and a nation without lawyers” expands to a great matter that when the plaintiff and the defendant had an altercation they did not settle this through fighting. Better yet, they handled it in the most civilized way and that’s going to the court justices where each one had to become their own lawyer.

A jury trial (or trial by jury) is a legal proceeding in which a jury either makes a decision or makes findings of fact which are then applied by a judge.

The jury are most useful in complicated cases as they usually “stick to the evidence and are not swayed by irrelevant considerations”. This demonstrates that their judgements are fair and just, as they decide guilt based on the evidence portrayed to them, and are not influenced by the characteristics of an offender such as their gender, age and looks. In addition, complicated cases may take longer therefore the use of juries in deciding