Ethical Issues In The Jury System

In the United States, an accused person is believed to be innocent until proven guilty. The process to make a trial fair has been guaranteed to citizens of the United States through the constitution. Included in the process as a guaranteed right are jurors. A jury is a group of people, from the community, selected by the prosecution and the defense counsel, tasked with deciding if the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (Weigman, 2011). To make this decision, the pool of jurors will listen to opening statements, listen to witness statements, look at the evidence and hear closing arguments. The jurors will then be given instructions that include the explanation of their role, the law and what proof beyond reasonable doubt means. The

jurors will then be tasked with deciding and interpreting the law and applying it to the witness statements and evidence presented in order to find the defendant guilty or innocent (Weigman, 2011).

On the other hand, there has been debate regarding the implementation of professional jurors for trials.

Advocates for this type of of jury system argue that juries should be made up of individuals who have an in depth understanding of the laws and new technologies (Weigman, 2011). Advocates also claim that a professional jury would be better because the jury system now brings in people with biased views in the courtroom, thus allowing the defense and prosecution to dismiss jurors by challenges or cause to stack the jury pool with individuals favorable to them (Weigman, 2011). A professional jury would alleviate this process. Another point advocates argue is that the jury system in place now is not truly made up of the defendant’s peers because certain people are excused from the jury pool or not even considered for the jury it (Weigman, 2011). For example, the jury system now selects individuals from a variety of sources that include voter registration, tax rolls, telephone directives. However it excludes minors, people who can’t speak or write English. Some even exclude old people, those in poor health, and those with certain jobs such as doctors, government officials and military (Weigman, 2011). Based on the arguments the advocates have presented for implementing a professional jury system, I believe the United States should implement this system because it would alleviate most of the aforementioned issues in place

now.

Wiegman K. (2011). Professional Jurors. Retrieved from http://people.uwplatt.edu/~wiegmake/Intro_Files/CJ%20-%20paper%20example3.pdf.