In the United States Constitution, there are four different jury provisions. The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution sets forth that grand juries decide whether cases proceed against people accused of some crimes. Once the grand jury indicts or the case otherwise proceeds against the accused, Article III, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the jury authority to decide a person’s actual guilt. The Sixth Amendment guarantees that this jury must be impartial. The U.S. Constitution also sets forth that juries decide certain civil cases worth over twenty dollars. Here is more information about specific constitutional provisions and issues regarding the
criminal,
civil, and
grand juries. In addition to the authority in the U.S. Constitution, most states’ constitutions also grant juries authority.
Despite this abundance of federal and state constitutional authority, juries actually very rarely decide most modern criminal and civil matters, and the role of the jury continues to shrink over time. There are several reasons for the jury’s demise. For example, plea bargaining occurs in a lot of criminal cases, as
the New York Times has described. Summary Judgment is another cause for the decline, as stated
in the New York Times. Arbitration is another reason why juries decide few cases, as described in this
series of articles by the New York Times.
Should we be concerned about the diminishing role of the jury in deciding our criminal and civil legal matters? Some people, such as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and star of the Shark Tank,
Mark Cuban, are concerned about the jury. He gives his opinion about the importance of juries
in this video. Here is more information about
a book on the fall of the jury and how to restore the jury’s authority. Juries are not perfect. At times they could be
more diverse. They also can have
bias.
Other decision-makers such as judges may have the same problems. At the same time,
jury systems in other countries grow. There are many different perspectives on this issue. Watch Professor Thomas’ video for more information.
Time has changed. The information culture allow us to get a grip of how the community feels about certain subjects. Data mining apparently is one of the most profitable industries currently and... well, we have clearly saw how people easily join forces to extinguish things they cannot fully comprehend or understand. People are horrible and they are prepared to decide to **** an innocent person if it not fits on what they perceive the world to be. This means that it is much better to have someone who is "enlightened" deciding on our conviction. Contrary to what Ive stated so far, the objective selection of the jury can now be performed easily since everyone is so eager to share their thoughts in twitter and other social media... There is no easy way to answer to this question. However, an easy answer would be to change the ruling of the Supreme Court. Prosecutors must understand that plea bargaining is a way to improve the justice ensamble but cannot be used as a coertion tool.
São importantíssimos para evitar arbitrariedades dos três poderes.
To make juries more common the people on them should be educated. Juries are important to represent the general population. Juries have to be smart and impartial. If you add a kind person to the jury then go on and add a mad one. You have to add all demographics to make a jury right.
Juries are important depending on the case. Yes, because they can be smart and deliberate on the case to find a fair verdict. No, because they are time-consuming, and cost a lot of money. Having them in civil or criminal cases.