Juries

Juries
By Daniel G. Jennings
It is time that we took the jury system back to what it originally was a system by which informed citizens oversee the administration of justice.
Today’s American jury system is an abomination because the courts have fallen under the control of lawyers. Modern lawyers consider anyone who doesn’t possess a juris doctorate an ignorant child and treat them accordingly. Thus they have hijacked the jury system and made it little more than a bad joke.
Through the jury selection process attorneys are able to weed out any potential juror who is intelligent, independent or informed. For example any juror who expresses any sort of independent opinion or view or who knows anything about either or the law or the case is removed from the jury. Meaning that only those who know nothing of the case are passing judgment on life and death matters concerning others. Worse, juries are sequestered jurors are locked into hotel rooms and stopped from doing everyday things like reading newspapers and watching TV news. The reason attorneys fear the jurors might be exposed to everyday people with ordinary opinions, they’re afraid that common sense might invade the courtroom. This is why we get cases in which juries refuse to convict blatantly guilty suspects or worse cases in which a jury convicts a person of murder even though no body and no proof that a crime has been committed has been located.
The present day jury system is a far cry from the original jury system of Medieval England. There the jury was of peers, equal informed members of the community. Today the jury is supposed to be composed of ignorant dolts who are completely unaware of the world around them, the kind of people who would have a hard time getting a job operating a cash register (operating a cash register takes basic intelligence something serving on a jury does not).
Some basic reforms could fix our jury system, first it should be illegal to move the jurisdiction of trials. If a suitable jury can’t be found in the community then the defendant has the right to waive his right to a jury trial. Second, the only reason for removing a juror should be that the juror has a proven connection to the victim or defendant or is disrupting the court procedures. The jury will be picked from a pool of community members who meet basic criteria, lawyers wouldn’t be able to question potential jurors or challenge them unless they could prove conflict of interest.
These changes wouldn’t guarantee justice but they would make the courts more efficient and just. Civil juries, grand juries and federal juries which operate along these lines seem to function just fine. At least then we could get juries capable of rendering intelligent decisions.
If we’re not going to do this then it’s time to deal away with the farce we call the jury system all together and have judges administer the law. Either that or go to a system like a courts martial where a panel of citizens renders legal decisions. Or just try to educate a class of lawyers who consider their fellow citizens as equals and human beings.