Trial By Jury Research Paper

Trial by Jury was first introduced during the reign of King Henry II as a mechanism to uncover the King’s rights, but it wasn’t until King Henry III that the jury was molded into a body of witnesses to call on their knowledge. Presently, our jury system is a body of witnesses that determine the guilt or innocence grounded upon a presentation of facts and evidence. The current structure of trial by jury is not sufficiently democratic. Jury panels are not selected democratically, but instead are chosen through a process call “voir dire” where attorneys and the judge ask a series of questions to establish the “impartiality” of the potential juror. This aspect of jury selection rejects the democratic notion that everyone is equally qualified to rule. The unanimity of the verdict is another key component of trial by juries that is not appropriately democratic because it forces people to fall under the coercion of others. This feature discards the fundamentals of democratic rule, which is a majority rule. These aspects of trial by jury do not ensure the effectiveness of a trial and actually hinder the possibility for a fair verdict. With the increasing number of trials all over the United States, reform of these components are necessary to guarantee the just and democratic ruling of trials.

Initial jury selection is done at random within certain territorial confines. Once the jury pool is selected, it undergoes questioning by both attorneys and the judge and empanelled before the trial to ensure a jury “of one’s peers”. However, attorneys on both sides hold jurisdiction to discard the preliminary members in order to further benefit their standpoint. The questions asked range from across the spectrum and are used as a strategic ta...

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...ied to serve and eliminates all prejudice that may come out of the voir dire process. Having a random selection of a jury panel also nullifies the chance that a verdict can be reached based on emotional stimulus. The entire manner a case is conducted will demonstrate higher ethics and rational because the jury would have been chosen democratically. Holding trials that are effectively structured around ethics and rational are better for the functioning of American government. The only disadvantage that may emerge from the random selection of jury is that the panel may be too democratic and in a diverse nation like the United Sates, too heterogeneous. Democracy essentially requires more homogeneity in its structure because too many differences create conflict. Conflicts in jury panels can be detrimental the entire court case, especially if a verdict cannot be reached.