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I think a solution would be to move to a system of professional jurors. As it stands, the current jury system seems to be a horrible mess of people who can't g
by lawpoop 10y ago
I think a solution would be to move to a system of professional jurors.
As it stands, the current jury system seems to be a horrible mess of people who can't get out of going to jury duty, relying not on understanding of the law or legal procedure, but rather the judge's instructions and the arguments of lawyers, and all the crime/courtroom drama shows and movies they've watched. They can't question lawyers during the trial or anything like that; they just watch a show for a while and then make a decision.
Given that a jury decision is, in the most abstract sense, an alternative to a judge's decision, then it would make sense to have jurors who at least as competent as a judge is for the job.
There would still be the issue of them becoming too close to prosecutors, lawyers, or judges, as we have now with judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement. But there are ways to address that. Nonetheless I believe it would be an improvement on the current system
- jMyles 10y agoExtending the credentialism that already plagues the "justice" system seems like the wrong move to me. I think we need a cultural change that makes jurors (and, more generally, participants in various civic activities) feel more empowered to think critically and speak out about their conclusions. It was pretty obvious that the bitemark stuff was complete junk science to anybody who read about it. The hair analysis may have been a little tougher, but I'm sure it was knowable.