1. The Jury System

2. One of the features of the American Justice system is the concept of a jury. In America a jury is usually a group of twelve men and women who preside at a trial and determine the innocence or guilt of the person on trial. The use of the jury system is an important protection against judicial tyranny and represents the voice of the people.

3. The members of the jury are chose by law and sworn to consider the facts of a case and decide upon the truth. A jury is composed of average citizens who are selected from the list of voters. Almost any citizen over 21 can be a juror. This is one of the main ways in which men and women take part in the government.

4. A juror receives notice through the mail that he or she has been chosen for jury duty and it is his or her responsibility to accept and appear on a jury. Jurors are called for varying periods of time according to state law, usually for two weeks. If they are workers, employers have to excuse them from their work. There may be occasions, however, when one may be excused because of a specific work or home situation, but exceptions are not always granted.

5. At a trial, the jury listens to both the defense and the prosecution. They hear the testimony of witnesses and the arguments of lawyers on both sides of the case. They are presented with evidence, either concrete or circumstantial, and the judge presiding over the case gives them final directions to follow in helping them to make a decision.

6. The decision, however, is completely theirs. Jury verdicts represent the common sense judgments of ordinary people. Critics of the system claim that clever lawyers often use shrewd psychology to influence a jury.

7. When the time comes for them to deliberate the verdict, they are ushered into a closed room where they decide if the defendant is guilty or innocent. This is painstaking and may take a long time because a jury's decision must be unanimous. All twelve members must be in agreement for a verdict to be given. Should one member of the jury persist and refuse to go along with the other eleven, the situation is called a hung jury. At this point a new jury might have to be selected and the entire process repeated.

8. Recently, however, some states allow majority verdicts in some cases, since unanimous decisions can become difficult and troublesome.

9. The Argument! The bottom line in the argument is whether or not a man should be judged by his own peers who themselves share equal limitations and inherent prejudices. Some legal experts do not believe that the system works well and in many cases juries are being used less and less. Some feel that the jury often takes too much time to decide a case or the jurors themselves are not totally objective.

10. Others believe that… True judgment, belongs only in the hands of those who have studied all the nuances of the law and who are professionally qualified to judge. Yet, others may go one step further and say that men should only be judged by God