Blackwell Reference Online

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Juries, those deliberative bodies in trial courts that determine the innocence or guilt of the defendant, are a fundamental democratic institution. Juries are composed of citizens, in principle randomly drawn from the adult population, and as a body of citizens, juries determine community justice. Juries, then, are deliberative democracy in action, where the power to define justice resides squarely in the hands of the people. Juries not only provide citizens with a direct political voice in shaping justice, but juries also offset the power of the state by situating decision making with citizens rather than rulers. For defendants, the right to trial by jury is specified in the Sixth and Seventh Amendments to the US Constitution. In the United States today, jury trials occur in about half of all federal cases but in only around 10 percent of cases in the state courts. Given that overall more trials take place in the state courts than in the federal system, in absolute numbers more jury trials occur at the state level ( Vidmar & Hans 2007 ). While the number of total trials in the US has been declining as lawyers and judges increasingly turn to alternative dispute resolution, the rate of decline has been far faster among bench trials than among jury trials. Polls show that Americans view juries in a highly favorable light, and contrary to popular belief, most Americans surveyed ... log in or subscribe to read full text