What These American Jury System Problems Are
Certain people help the judges when they decide the verdicts to the criminals. These groups usually consist of twelve members. This set up is common in America.
Sadly, the set up has become unfair and corrupted nowadays. Some American jury system problems posed by this mechanism are faced by the citizens. Other activists have called for its reformation as well as its abolition due to these issues. The following common issues are faced by citizens.
The hearings usually take a long time to start since the courts will still have to look for individuals that they could possibly install in the juries. They will have to screen a lot of possible jurors in this case. They have to filter out those with no criminal records, not on parole, and other such conditions. If the crimes happened on big cities, one can only imagine how long the selection process of these jurors will be.
The qualification of each member of the jury is also posing another problem. The persons are usually having various professions. Some are working during the day like teachers, small business owners and plumbers, among others. They usually have not completed law schools. As such, they are basing their judgment on their views as well as opinions.
They may also not know all of the legal terms that could be present in different cases. The judges will need to explain these legal terms to these persons before they proceed with the trails. These explanations will certainly add to the lengths of time that will be spent for these hearings. There are also cases where these individuals still do not fully comprehend what these terms mean even after these explanations.
Ideally, those trials where the juries are involved must only last for a day. However, due to scenarios such as misunderstandings, these trials could even last a month. Since the presence of the individuals are required in these hearings, they might not become productive with their own time and if they have their own businesses, losses could even be incurred.
There are certain stages for people to file certain cases. Lower courts should hear some charges while the court of appeals will handle the others. However, there are certain cases that reach the need for juries even if they are not necessary. These charges may be totally comical or ridiculous and even children will be able to make sound judgments about them. These are additional burdens to these courts.
The frequency to be summoned for a jury could vary. The frequency is dependent on the number of proceedings that will be heard by the courts in certain time periods. For instance, many cases could be filed to the courts of big cities. For this matter, lots of jurors will also be summoned. There could only be a few number of qualified jurors. With such, they could be summoned for several times by the courts.
These are only several problems of the mechanism. A lot of organizations support the reformation of the jury system. However, a lot of individuals also want to abolish this mechanism entirely. The supreme courts should be able to check and study these requests to make sure that they will give accusers and defendants the justice that they deserve.
Sadly, the set up has become unfair and corrupted nowadays. Some American jury system problems posed by this mechanism are faced by the citizens. Other activists have called for its reformation as well as its abolition due to these issues. The following common issues are faced by citizens.
The hearings usually take a long time to start since the courts will still have to look for individuals that they could possibly install in the juries. They will have to screen a lot of possible jurors in this case. They have to filter out those with no criminal records, not on parole, and other such conditions. If the crimes happened on big cities, one can only imagine how long the selection process of these jurors will be.
The qualification of each member of the jury is also posing another problem. The persons are usually having various professions. Some are working during the day like teachers, small business owners and plumbers, among others. They usually have not completed law schools. As such, they are basing their judgment on their views as well as opinions.
They may also not know all of the legal terms that could be present in different cases. The judges will need to explain these legal terms to these persons before they proceed with the trails. These explanations will certainly add to the lengths of time that will be spent for these hearings. There are also cases where these individuals still do not fully comprehend what these terms mean even after these explanations.
Ideally, those trials where the juries are involved must only last for a day. However, due to scenarios such as misunderstandings, these trials could even last a month. Since the presence of the individuals are required in these hearings, they might not become productive with their own time and if they have their own businesses, losses could even be incurred.
There are certain stages for people to file certain cases. Lower courts should hear some charges while the court of appeals will handle the others. However, there are certain cases that reach the need for juries even if they are not necessary. These charges may be totally comical or ridiculous and even children will be able to make sound judgments about them. These are additional burdens to these courts.
The frequency to be summoned for a jury could vary. The frequency is dependent on the number of proceedings that will be heard by the courts in certain time periods. For instance, many cases could be filed to the courts of big cities. For this matter, lots of jurors will also be summoned. There could only be a few number of qualified jurors. With such, they could be summoned for several times by the courts.
These are only several problems of the mechanism. A lot of organizations support the reformation of the jury system. However, a lot of individuals also want to abolish this mechanism entirely. The supreme courts should be able to check and study these requests to make sure that they will give accusers and defendants the justice that they deserve.