4 ms·
If you remove any jurors with history of abuse, do you not remove all the people that have life experience that could be relevant? With a jury of only lets say
by kmonsen 5y ago
If you remove any jurors with history of abuse, do you not remove all the people that have life experience that could be relevant?
With a jury of only lets say strong white males that have never been abused or abuse adjacent, but have had several experience where they felt woman didn't give them enough respect are we that would seem a lot worse to me. Obviously this sounds like an extreme example, but the reality is that such a large part of the population has been the victim in abuse situations that you are going to disqualify into a situation similar to this.
- tomp 5y agoI'm a white male who's never been sexually abused but I can clearly see that's wrong. This, and being more objective / less emotional (due to not seeing it personally) would probably make me a better juror in such a case than someone who's personally experienced it.
- kmonsen 5y agoI don't know, I am also a white male and I feel I cannot understand how abuse really works. Of course this might just be me being dense, doesn't say anything about you or anyone else.
- not2b 5y agoWith no experience of abuse, you might more likely to be persuaded by arguments like "why didn't she report it earlier" than people with actual experience, who know exactly why.
- kazinator 5y agoI think the whole concept of random citizens being pulled in for jury duty is idiotic. Jurors should be professionals who are trained in being jurors: who, for one thing, thoroughly understand topics in critical reasoning such as fallacies, and cognitive biases. They should be properly paid, and so are not sitting there on a Saturday morning, socking it to the defendant out of spite for being dragged out of their regular lives without adequate compensation.
- sandworm101 5y agoThat system exists. They are called bench trials. No defendant is forced us submit to a jury. The defendant doesn't want a jury because he thinks that it will "sock it to him" on a Saturday. He wants a jury because he thinks that his fellow citizens will see that the government is improperly accusing him of a crime. The defendant has the right to a trial by people who are not part of the same government that has accused him. The fact that the jurors don't want to be there, that they have lives away from the court, is exactly what the defendant wants.
- mavhc 5y agoAmong the small share and number of federal defendants who went to trial in fiscal 2018, those who opted for a bench trial – that is, one in which the verdict is handed down by a judge – fared better than those who opted for a jury trial. Around four-in-ten defendants who faced a bench trial (38%) were acquitted, compared with just 14% of those who faced a jury trial. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-federal-criminal-defendants-go-to-trial-and-most-who-do-are-found-guilty/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-f...
- kazinator 5y ago