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Grand Jury: Needed or Not?
The United States is the only common law jurisdiction in the world that still uses the grand jury for purposes of screening criminal indictments. The grand jury issues an indictment for crime only if based on the evidence that has been presented it finds that there is a probable cause for one to believe that a crime has been committed by the suspect .this is unlike a petit jury that only resolves a specific type of criminal or civil cases, a grand jury serves as a group for a particular period of time in all or many cases that come up in the jurisdiction which is under the supervision of the federal; state attorney, a court district attorney or even a state general attorney and listens to the evidence without having suspect or person of interest being involved in the proceedings (Leipold, 2005).
The question that arises is whether the grand jury system should be abolished, reformed or retained as currently as it...
The grand jury is in place to ensure that innocent people are protected and given a fair trial and judgment.in the federal law there is a grand jury clause which states whereby the Fifth Amendment of the United States constitution provides that "No person shall be held to answer for capital or infamous crime unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger…."from this clause we clearly see that the Grand jury is really advocating for an opportunity for a fair trial in a criminal court. This means that the grand jury is for citizens and therefore a very good thing. The grand jury is very important hence it should not be abolished in the legal justice system.
However, the Grand jury is faced with a lot of criticism. The jury makeup is one of the most common and persistent criticism of the grand jury. Critics…
References
Leipold, A.D., (2005). Why grand juries do not (and cannot) protect the accused. Retrieved February 21, 2014 from http://www.freedomlaw.com/archives/oldsite/GRANDJRY.html
Farlex, Inc., (2014). Grand Jury. Retrieved February 21, 2014 from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Grand+jury
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