| Our jury system has many advantages. A jury is | | | | in some quarters of American society, the right to a |
| made up of local citizens, men and women from the | | | | trial by jury is under siege. In addition to the |
| community, who are able to evaluate cases based on | | | | controversial "wartime" extraordinary powers |
| community standards. The composition of the jury is | | | | invested in the Bush Administration's policies toward |
| not known in advance, so that the exertion of undue | | | | detainees, designating a person as an "unlawful |
| influence is rendered less likely. Jurors cannot be paid | | | | combatant" changes the rules pertaining to jury trials, |
| by either side, so that they can be considered | | | | making them subject to military tribunals in place of |
| relatively impartial. Jurors complete their service during | | | | juries. Other groups hoisting agendas advocate for |
| the trial process and subsequently return to their | | | | the elimination of the right to trial by jury in the |
| private lives, so that ongoing efforts to influence | | | | interests of avoiding frivolous or nugatory lawsuits. |
| their decisions do not typically occur. It may be | | | | But is there a hidden agenda behind such claims? Is |
| possible to find an errant adjudicator, usually a judge, | | | | the issue about not trusting a panel of individual |
| but it is less likely to find twelve jurors who will come | | | | jurors to come to a clear consensus? Is wariness |
| to an outrageous conclusion. | | | | about frivolous lawsuits often a smokescreen for |
| America's Founding Fathers, those august signers and | | | | immunizing wrongdoers from the consequences of |
| framers of the U.S. Constitution, recognized in their | | | | their behavior? Would the dismissal of all juries really |
| collective judgment that a jury of a defendant's | | | | be in the best interests of our citizens? The right to |
| "peers," while not always fair or impartial, would be | | | | trial by jury is an integral part of the American |
| more reliable at arriving at "reasonable" decisions. But | | | | system of law and justice and should be preserved. |