There is no "we" with the power to change anything. Jury trials are about two percent of all trials (much of the rest is concluded by accepting a plea bargain), and the outcome is already nearly guaranteed after jury selection. If it's not, it's up to the judge whatever is allowed to be presented in the courtroom. In 2010, one in 300 of …
There is no "we" with the power to change anything. Jury trials are about two percent of all trials (much of the rest is concluded by accepting a plea bargain), and the outcome is already nearly guaranteed after jury selection. If it's not, it's up to the judge whatever is allowed to be presented in the courtroom. In 2010, one in 300 of my students knew where they can wield the most power: on a jury, because THEY become the LAW. Judges hate it, but ultimately, they can't do anything about it, except advise the jury before deliberation that the jury member's job is not to decide if the law is fair, but whether it was broken. That, of course, is a blatant lie. Civics has been out of public school curricula for decades.
There is no "we" with the power to change anything. Jury trials are about two percent of all trials (much of the rest is concluded by accepting a plea bargain), and the outcome is already nearly guaranteed after jury selection. If it's not, it's up to the judge whatever is allowed to be presented in the courtroom. In 2010, one in 300 of my students knew where they can wield the most power: on a jury, because THEY become the LAW. Judges hate it, but ultimately, they can't do anything about it, except advise the jury before deliberation that the jury member's job is not to decide if the law is fair, but whether it was broken. That, of course, is a blatant lie. Civics has been out of public school curricula for decades.