Juries are one of those things you can write a good book about or have one of those tearful movies where the normal folk come through to make justice prevail in

Juries are one of those things you can write a good book about or have one of those tearful movies where the normal folk come through to make justice prevail in face of an evil prosecutor and police. But the reality isn't that rosy. The sample size is far too small, and worst of all, juries amplify biases in the system. It's like inverting a matrix, great for a math proof but you never do that in practice. Just take this writeup on a case in Britain: http://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/duncandollimore/mason-verdict http://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/duncandollimore/mason-verdict She just straight rammed into the cyclist from behind. No braking, didn't even stop. But a jury of very likely overwhelmingly drivers have no problem to acquit when there is even the slightest hint of "hey, this could be something that might happen to me!".