Jury System Dbq Essay

Juries The jury system has been a part of our society for hundreds of years. It was first created to give all defendants that option to be judged by their peers for their charges instead of by solely a judge. This provides an excellent opportunity to those who feel that their peers can give them a verdict that is not decided by the professional judge. However, this means that there may also be a prodigious amount of room for mistake in convictions. Therefore, the jury system is not as effective as a bench trial due to it not being judged by a professional on the subject of law, the manner in which the court selects jurors is unfair, and the way that the jury is forced to decide can cause some poor judgment. Judges are given the powers they have because they are professionals on their subject matter; however, a jury is not quite the same. A jury trial is a trial that has twelve randomly selected citizens coming to a verdict instead of a judge. While this may …show more content…
When the jurors are “placed in a cramped box and held up there for days or even weeks at a time” (Document B), then their decision may be slightly different due to their boredom and/or want to leave. This may not always be a problem; however, I know that if I was trapped there and not allowed to leave until the jury came to a decision, then I might just throw in the towel of what I actually believe and just go with the majority vote. Another reason that this example verdict may not be correct is judges have a “reasoned and professional judgment” (Document B), but I cannot say the same for juries. A jury is by no means professional, as they are random citizens that know from a range of nothing about law or omniscient about law. This is proven by cartoon 1 of Document where near three-fourths of the jury are focusing on something other than the trial (Document