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The jury system in inefficient because it relies on compulsory civil service that most people wish to avoid. Since long deliberations add to the length of jury service, jurors serving compulsory terms have a natural incentive to reach a verdict as soon as possible, which often influences the decision of minority opinion holders to join the majority irrespective of their beliefs and wholly apart from the separate issue of social pressure and coercion by dominant group members during deliberations.
The often-repeated phrase that "juries are composed of the only people who are too stupid to get out of jury duty" may be an exaggeration, but there is some truth to it, simply because people with greater knowledge and awareness...
ess of laws and government administration do tend to justify excusals from jury service more often than those with less sophisticated understanding and awareness of governmental procedures and laws.
The juror system is greatly susceptible to undue influence because instructions by judges to disregard stricken testimony are often ignored by juries.
The system used in several European countries where juries consist of professional jurors with training in legal and procedural issues is much more effective and probably results in better verdicts than compulsory jury service.
Even so, judgments rendered by experienced professionals like judges are more likely to represent justice than decisions of lay people.
Psychologists and Jury Selection Jury selection is basically a process that involves three stages which include voir dire, developing a list of eligible citizens and choosing those to call in a specific case. Voir dire is an Anglo-Norman phrase that means to speak the truth and is used for prospective jurors who are assessed under oath. In most cases, jury selection starts with venire i.e. The selection of a panel of
Criminal Justice System After heavy bombardment on London by fighter plans of Germany in Second World War, someone asked Winston Churchill that would Britain live long! Churchill replied immediately that if our courts are providing justice then there is no question about existence of Britain, which they are. Similarly, in World War 1 and World War 2 where Jews were brutally killed by Nazis then some of the Jews got refuge
Four years later, the average federal drug sentence for African-Americans was 49% higher." (Vagins and McCurdy, 2006) Additionally stated by Vagins and McCurdy is: "In 2000 there were more African-American men in prison and jails than there were in higher education, leading scholars to conclude that our crime policies are a major contributor to the disruption of the African-American family. The effects of mandatory minimums not only contribute to
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws: Mandatory minimum sentences, which were rare in the criminal law or justice system, have experienced a remarkable increase in popularity. As a political phenomenon, the policy has enjoyed broader bi-partisan support since mid-1980s as the U.S. Congress has continued to enact new measures for containing mandatory minimum sentences. The major goal of the Mandatory Minimum Sentence Laws is basically to prevent the judicial trivialization of serious drug
Juvenile Justice The Juvenile Criminal Justice System Juvenile courts and detention separate from adult courts is a relatively new concept (ABA, 2010). Before the turn of the twentieth century, the cases for individuals of all ages were managed by the same criminal and civil courts, and the same sentences were handed out to all parties. Of course, this has changed to a great extent since 1899 in the United States, but there
The actual court proceedings in a juvenile court consist of the arrest procedure, search and seizure, and custodial interrogation (Calderon 2006). The concept has been that the delinquent is a child rather than a criminal. Hence, rehabilitation rather than punishment is the court and the system's goal. But the major aspects of the juvenile justice system continue to hound its supporters. One is the cause of serious juvenile crime. Another