Jury
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What is a jury?
A jury is a group of people selected to render verdicts on the basis of evidence presented in a court of law. The modern jury decides the facts of a case, after hearing the evidence presented in court. The judge decides what evidence the jury can consider, instructs the jury on the applicable law, and can set aside a verdict if it is against the weight of the evidence.
Historically, juries were neighborhood witnesses who judged based on their own knowledge. Today, potential jurors are randomly selected from the general population, though some groups may be exempt and individuals can be excused for hardship. Lawyers can challenge potential jurors if they suspect bias.
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What does a jury do in a court case?
In court, a jury is a group of randomly selected laypersons who decide cases presented at trial. They deliberate in secrecy, vote, and deliver a verdict without needing to explain their decision. The judge decides what evidence the jury can consider. The judge directs the jury to acquit if there is no factual issue, but cannot direct a guilty verdict. The judge instructs the jury on the applicable law. If the verdict goes against the evidence, the judge can order a new trial, except in the case of a criminal acquittal.
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How are jurors chosen for a jury?
Jurors are chosen through a random selection from the general population to represent a cross-section of the community. Some groups, like police officers, lawyers, and doctors, may be exempt, and individuals can be excused for undue hardship.
The voir dire process involves questioning by a judge or attorneys to detect any bias or preconceived notions. Potential jurors can be challenged for cause if there's a likelihood of bias, or dismissed without a stated reason through a limited number of peremptory challenges. In death penalty cases, a death-qualified jury is selected based on their views on capital punishment.
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What types of cases use a jury?
Juries are utilized in both criminal and civil cases, though their application can vary. In the U.S., the Supreme Court has established that a jury trial is a constitutional right in criminal cases where imprisonment may exceed six months.
In civil cases, jury trial availability differs, generally existing in all U.S. states and federal courts. Juries in civil cases decide on liability and the amount of damages. While criminal cases generally restrict juries to deciding guilt, some states allow them to decide the sentence within legal parameters. In capital punishment cases, the jury determines whether the death penalty should be imposed.
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How does a jury reach a decision or verdict?
Under a judge's supervision, a jury deliberates to reach a verdict by considering the evidence and applying the law as instructed by the judge. Traditionally, a jury has 12 members, and unanimity was required to reach a decision; however, modifications have occurred over time. Some jurisdictions allow for juries of six in minor criminal cases, and in civil cases, verdicts by less-than-unanimous votes are permitted.
If the required number of jurors cannot agree on a verdict, it is termed a hung jury, and the judge declares a mistrial, meaning the case must be tried again unless withdrawn. In rare cases, a jury may acquit a defendant, disregarding the judge's instructions or disagreeing with the law, which is known as jury nullification.
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Why is serving on a jury considered an important civic duty?
Serving on a jury is considered an important civic duty because it is a minimally necessary activity in support of the state. Jury service provides citizens with an important civic experience. The jury decides questions of fact, which helps preserve the values and principles of the civil and political order. The jury ensures that the rigidity of the general rule can be shaped to justice in a particular case. More than 90 percent of all jury trials occur in the United States.
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News •
Jury, historic legal institution in which a group of laypersons participate in deciding cases brought to trial. Its exact characteristics and powers depend on the laws and practices of the countries, provinces, or states in which it is found, and there is considerable variation. Basically, however, it recruits laypersons at random from the widest population for the trial of a particular case and allows them to deliberate in secrecy, to reach a decision by a vote, and to present its verdict without giving reasons. (In 2017 the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal rule that prevents former jurors from testifying about the deliberations of the jury on which they served could be suspended in cases in which there is clear evidence that a juror made statements during deliberations indicating that his or her vote to convict the defendant was significantly motivated by racial animus.) Throughout its history, it has perhaps been both overpraised as a charter of liberty and overcriticized as a reliance on incompetent amateurs in the administration of justice.
History and use
The origin of the jury is disputed. It may have been indigenous to England or have been taken there by the Norman invaders in 1066. Originally, the jurors were neighbourhood witnesses who passed judgment on the basis of what they themselves knew. The breakdown of medieval society and the growth of the towns changed the role of the jury, which came to be called upon to determine the facts of the case on the basis of the evidence presented in court. The availability of the jury in the king’s courts may have been a key factor in centralizing the country’s courts under the king and in creating the common law. By the 15th century, nonrational modes of trial such as ordeal, in which the defendant was subjected to various tortures, were replaced by the jury trial, which became the established form of trial for both criminal and civil cases at common law.
Two forces extended the jury outside England. The expansion of the British Empire brought the jury to Asia, Africa, and the American continent, and the French Revolution and its aftermath brought the jury, as a symbol of popular government, to the European continent. Juries were first established in France itself; through Napoleon, the jury was introduced first in the Rhineland, then in Belgium, and finally in most of the remaining German states, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, and Luxembourg. However, the last two countries abolished it immediately after Napoleon’s defeat. In each of these countries, use of the jury was limited to trials of major crimes and of political crimes against the state.
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Beginning in the mid-19th century, the jury was weakened in a variety of ways. For example, in 1850 Prussia removed treason from its jurisdiction; in 1851 the duchy of Nassau removed all political crimes; in 1923 Czechoslovakia removed treason and, one year later, libel; in 1919 Hungary suspended trial by jury entirely and never restored it. Germany abandoned the jury in 1924. Both the Soviet bloc and the fascist states abolished it outright; France never restored the jury abolished during the German occupation in the 1940s, and Japan did away with its short-lived jury courts in 1943. After World War II, Austria reintroduced the jury in a weakened form.
Thus, the history of the jury shows that the effort to introduce it outside the Anglo-American legal orbit largely failed. In England its use was limited by statute to a small category of cases. Consequently, the United States emerged as the home of the jury system for both criminal and civil cases; more than 90 percent of all jury trials in the world occur in the United States.
Use of the jury in the United States depends on two factors: the degree to which it is available as a matter of right and the degree to which the parties choose to use it. The availability of the jury trial varied from state to state, but, in 1968 in Duncan v. Louisiana, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a jury trial is a constitutional right in all criminal cases in which the penalty may exceed six months’ imprisonment. In civil cases its constitutional status is more various, but jury trial generally is available in all U.S. states and in the federal courts. The practice of allowing the parties to waive a jury trial also varies widely from region to region.
Jury procedures
Selection
Historically, there were requirements of property and competence for jury service. The genuine random selection of jurors from the general population (to achieve a cross section of the community) gained ground and became the principle of selection in the federal courts and most state courts. Most jurisdictions exempt some groups from jury service (e.g., police officers, lawyers, doctors, etc.). All jurisdictions excuse jurors if the service imposes undue hardship.
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The commitment of important decisions to a random group of laypersons has been moderated, particularly in the United States, by an elaborate screening process known as voir dire, which is conducted by trial counsel at the inception of a trial. The law permits counsel to challenge prospective jurors either for cause (if there is specific likelihood of bias) or, for a limited number, “peremptorily” (i.e., without having to give a reason). American trial tradition attaches a great deal of significance to the strategies of juror selection, and in high-profile cases the lawyers’ voir dire examination has sometimes extended for several weeks.