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This is one of the reasons that jury trials have to go. It's not reasonable to expect private citizens to endure financial difficulties and other stress from having to sit on juries for long periods of time. It's also not reasonable to expect private citizens who are not trained in the law to understand complicated legal defences and deliver legal decisions. We have judges with law degrees who are more than capable of delivering a fair verdict better than any jury can. If the judge for some unlikely reason is not fair, then there is an appeals process to deal with that. Juries have long outlived their usefulness.
I've always kinda wondered if this would work.. When I got called for jury duty.. A guy stood up when the judge asked if anyone had any felony convictions and.. No questions asked.. Just thank you, you may leave now. Didn't seemingly check or anything. I think he asked what court he was convicted in, it was out of state.. They just told him he could pick up his $5 or whatever it was and head out.
Would they actually double check that?
The penalties if they did.. Probably would make it not worthwhile to try, but..
I certainly don't mind doing my civic duty by sitting on a jury. But don't "lock me up" and expect me to be happy about it. I'm not a criminal. I have responsibilities at home. We all do. We need to end the sequestered jury trial nonsense. If it comes down to this, cancel the jury and let the judge decide the case.
These trials drag on for weeks/months. There should be a limit on what the jury has to endure.
This is one of the reasons that jury trials have to go. It's not reasonable to expect private citizens to endure financial difficulties and other stress from having to sit on juries for long periods of time. It's also not reasonable to expect private citizens who are not trained in the law to understand complicated legal defences and deliver legal decisions. We have judges with law degrees who are more than capable of delivering a fair verdict better than any jury can. If the judge for some unlikely reason is not fair, then there is an appeals process to deal with that. Juries have long outlived their usefulness.
As I was saying in my post, I really wonder if we ought to maintain jury trials in most cases. The vast majority of people seem to want to avoid serving on a jury from what I can tell. If only twenty-five percent of the public will willingly serve that creates a situation where I think the jury system become untenable. Rather than go through a process of forcing people to serve maybe it just makes more sense to move to a system where judges decide cases? I represent a lot of people who get injured in car accidents and we have moved in my state to a system where these disputes are largely decided through the private process of arbitration. It is a vast improvement over judicial trials. Most people who serve on a jury do not imagine being called to serve on a civil jury. If they must serve at all, they imagine hearing some kind of dramatic criminal case. Civil trials seldom are very interesting and that makes ordinary people even less excited about jury service. That apathy was largely reflected in the past in verdicts that were either way too low or way too high.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Javacoffee
I certainly don't mind doing my civic duty by sitting on a jury. But don't "lock me up" and expect me to be happy about it. I'm not a criminal. I have responsibilities at home. We all do. We need to end the sequestered jury trial nonsense. If it comes down to this, cancel the jury and let the judge decide the case.
These trials drag on for weeks/months. There should be a limit on what the jury has to endure.
Jury sequestration is rare and usually only occurs in high profile cases. Prospective jurors are usually asked if they could deal with sequestration for several weeks. Many are excused because they cannot do so. I am grateful for people who express a willingness to serve--as you do. Again, though, I think by being willing to serve you are in the minority. I fear most people would gladly get out of jury service whether it is a "civic responsibility" or not. I do not mind people being honest and saying that we should abolish the jury system. What I do mind are people who insist that we maintain it and than when they are called to serve find 100 reasons why they personally should not be required to be a juror. I have seen people like that too.
This is one of the reasons that jury trials have to go. It's not reasonable to expect private citizens to endure financial difficulties and other stress from having to sit on juries for long periods of time. It's also not reasonable to expect private citizens who are not trained in the law to understand complicated legal defences and deliver legal decisions. We have judges with law degrees who are more than capable of delivering a fair verdict better than any jury can. If the judge for some unlikely reason is not fair, then there is an appeals process to deal with that. Juries have long outlived their usefulness.
Juries do not make legal decisions. Juried decide what the facts are. Judges make the legal decisions.
In civil cases, at least in Texas, the verdict is determined by how the jury answers a series of questions, none of which require legal interpretation.
Juries do not make legal decisions. Juried decide what the facts are. Judges make the legal decisions.
In civil cases, at least in Texas, the verdict is determined by how the jury answers a series of questions, none of which require legal interpretation.
Juries determine guilt or innocence. Judges hand down sentences.
Juries determine guilt or innocence. Judges hand down sentences.
In Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia, juries decide a defendant's sentence.
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