Grand jury necessity and effectiveness in criminal justice

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 is. 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 argue that the jurors do not represent a sampling of the community and they are also not qualified for the jury service. This claims imply that they do not posses an ability tat is satisfying when it comes to asking pertinent questions, or do not sufficiently understand the local government and concept of the due process. Grand jurors are not screened to dispel any bias or improper factors. Secondly, grand jurors have a limited constitutional right the prosecutor is not obliged to make presentations of evidence that will favor those that are under investigation. The people who are subject to the grand jury proceedings lack a sixth amendment constitutional right when it comes to counseling within the grand jury room .They also lack a sixth amendment right to cross-examine or confront a witness. Grand juries have also been accused of using intimidation tactics. They have been accused of being used for purposes of intimidation and persecution mechanism especially when it comes to whistleblowers that have been accused of stealing classified information (Farlex, 2014).