Jury Duty, The Bedrock of our Democracy

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Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Ah, so if I understand correctly, the jury could do this but the judge would not have been able to?

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That's right. Laws are very detailed (everything is in the books), and all cases are different, so even minute differences can make a difference in some cases. As a result, precedent is far less valuable in our system and In contrast to the US, judges don't have much leeway here and are obligated to follow the laws to the letter.

The US, in contrast, is based on case law and precedent (or so I was told by sicboater) which is is also why cases can get kicked up the ladder and appealed several times until it reaches the supreme court (if that should apply for the given case).

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Originally Posted by Bruno

I always found it strange that the jury is not allowed to ask questions.

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I find it stranger that certain types of evidence can be declared inadmissable. The implication is that jurors are too stupid to interpet facts correctly. If I ever do jury service I will always be wondering what gems of information are being hidden from me.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

which is is also why cases can get kicked up the ladder and appealed several times until it reaches the supreme court (if that should apply for the given case).

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case in point. the SCOTUS is not a court, technically, it is a tribunal. they don't judge cases, they judge laws. there is a very important distinction between the two.

remember that in a Jury trial the responsibilities of the two sides are not equal. The prosecution must prove the case while the defense only has to place a doubt in the minds of the Jurors. That's why trials involving rich people usually end in acquittal because they can pay to have unlimited "experts" testify to put this doubt in the jurors minds. Also the defense will usually try and get people either of low intelligence who can be easily swayed or people who they think will be disposed to be in favor of the defendant.

In the end there is really nothing fair about a trial.

Friggen Lawyers!!! They are all just super pric*s.

Matt

Not only was the turnout for this thread low, but no one came forward saying that they served on a jury. I guess if you're intelligent and successful in America, you demonstrate it by getting out of jury duty.

The closest thing I've ever been to was when I was about to be a witness at somebody's divorce proceedings. They had a talk inside while we were waiting and told us there is no need for us to do anything - they agreed to take a different approach.

I've talked with my friends I think once about jury duty when one of them was called and I think pretty much all agreed they were going to go with it if they got picked.
They are intelligent and successful, and at the time had more free time than now, so I don't know if this changes stuff now. All of them can figure out very quickly what's more important, serving at their job, or serving on a jury.
The person didn't get picked, but of course being intelligent we had plenty of ideas how to get out of it if you don't think it's important enough. Mostly it was the interesting stories from the selection process we talked about.

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Originally Posted by Chimensch

Not only was the turnout for this thread low, but no one came forward saying that they served on a jury. I guess if you're intelligent and successful in America, you demonstrate it by getting out of jury duty.

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I was called once for jury duty but I opted out as it was finals week at school

I've been summoned three times. Twice I sat in a courthouse awaiting a trial but was never called. The third time I was called and marched into a courtroom with about thirty other folkses. After a brief runthrough of the case we were called one at a time up to the witness stand to be interviewed. When they asked me if I had any thoughts or feelings about the case I said, "He looks guilty as sin to me." I was dismissed by the defence attorney and the judge thanked me for my time and candor.

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Originally Posted by Chimensch

Not only was the turnout for this thread low, but no one came forward saying that they served on a jury. I guess if you're intelligent and successful in America, you demonstrate it by getting out of jury duty.

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or you're young and have never been called. or you don't feel like talking about it online.

but whatever, go ahead and vilify everyone with your generalizing. at least we're not being called Neandertherthals in this thread.