An Exploration Of The American Jury System

Jury System is an institution whereby a certain number of people are fairly selected bythe national judicial organ from common citizens and engages in rendering an impartialverdict in criminal or civil trials. The selected people are called jurors. The modern jurysystem has evolved out of the ancient judicial practices. Concerning the origin of the jurysystem, opinions are varied and what is generally accepted is that it has its origins in theancient Greece and Rome; however, England is the real birthplace of the jury system in itsmodern sense. The establishment of the American jury system is the result of British colonialexpansion. The American constitution clearly stipulates that citizens have the right to a jurytrial and therefore the jury system holds an important position in the American politics andjudicial system. Nonetheless, in the nineteenth century, many doubts were cast on theAmerican jury system, particularly on its effectiveness in practice.Although it needsimproving in many parts, the American jury system still plays a positive role. Toaccommodate to the needs of modern society, the American jury system has made manyadjustments.The paper is divided into three parts:Part1deals with the establishment and development of the American jury system.Opinions have always been varied over when the jury system came to being: some scholarsconsider the ancient Greece and Rome as its birthplace; others Frankish Kingdom; still othersAnglo-Saxon tribe. However, what is beyond doubt is that the jury system in its modern sensehas its roots in England. With the emergence of grand jury and petty jury, the jury systemfinally took hold in England. The jury system took root in America with British colonialexpansion in northern American continent. Stipulations on jury system are made in the Fifth,Sixth and Seventh Amendments of the United States Constitution. Some adjustments havebeen made to meet the needs of the times.Part2explores the way the jury system operates. The jury in America consists of twokinds: grand jury and petty jury. Grand jury is applied only to gross criminal cases, fulfillingthe functions of investigation and prosecution; petty jury is applied to both criminal and civilcases and widely adopted in America now. To guarantee democracy in composition of jury,restrictions on eligibility of jurors have been relaxed, and so women and black people have the qualifications to become a juror. The selection of jurors follows the procedures ofexamination and verification beforehand and avoidance for no reason to remove thoseunacceptable prejudiced juror candidates in order to ensure fair trials. The jury is present at atrial as an observer and renders a verdict after ascertaining facts and deliberations of the proofsubmitted by both parties. The jurors must keep their deliberations of cases a secret fromothers and they must deliver a unanimous or majority verdict. Given the fact that jurors’participation in hearing cases and returning verdicts will cause disturbance to their work andlife, so they enjoy some rights to protect their benefits. But they must do their required dutieswhile enjoying the granted rights.Part3examines and evaluates the American jury system. Though originating in England,the American jury system does not completely duplicate its British counterpart; instead,compared with its British counterpart or the assessor system in Continental law, the Americanjury system has its unique features. Since its establishment, the jury system has always beenplaying a positive role in American society. Jury system provides the channel for citizens toparticipate in social governance, promoting democracy in America; meanwhile, as a judicialsystem, jury system contributes to judicial fairness and independence. Nevertheless, somehold that the jury system should be removed, making the case that the entire process fromselection of jurors to verdicts recorded of cases is costly and ineffective. For my part, I thinkthe defects exposed in practice of jury system cannot cover up its merits and the Americanjury system will continue to play its part in American society.