U.S. GOVERNMENT | A resilient balance of institutions
20 August 2008
Jury Service a Valuable Civic Duty, Says Former Court Official
Cases decided by peers send community message to legal professionals
Washington -- Being called to serve on a jury is an almost inevitable experience of U.S. citizenship. When a jury summons arrives in the mail, many recipients nervously imagine spending days away from jobs and family at the local courthouse hearing evidence before ultimately and uncomfortably deciding the fate of someone in their community.
In reality, instances of juries isolated for weeks or months, an image popularized by the entertainment media, are “very rare,” David Bell, former clerk of court for Arlington County, Virginia, told America.gov.
Bell recently retired after serving 37 years with the court -- the longest serving elected official in the county’s history. His duties included facilitating jury selection and instructing jurors on their duties.
The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which came into effect in 1791, guarantees a right to a speedy and public trial by a “jury of peers,” meaning a representative cross-section of the community.
The Founders “weren’t just speaking to the people that were about to be tried or that were going to be subject to the trial,” Bell said. “They were also speaking to the rest of the community, which were the peers they were talking about, saying that this is one of the few [civic tasks] … a government must require its citizens to do. And that if you didn’t do it, your neighbor had to.”
From his experience, most first-time jurors “came in with great trepidation and went out admitting that they were glad that they did it and in fact would do it again,” he said.
Each U.S. state and local community has its own procedures for selecting and conducting a jury trial. In Arlington County, approximately 2,000 randomly selected residents each year receive a jury summons. More potential jurors are called than are needed for the scheduled trials to allow attorneys for both sides to screen for biases or special interests that could affect jurors’ opinions.
Attorneys for the defense and the prosecution receive a list of the potential jurors’ names, occupations, ages and addresses, and can ask jurors questions. “There are no right or wrong answers. They [the attorneys] are merely trying to get the best jury they can for their particular side of the case, be it criminal or civil,” Bell said.
Unlike some states, he says, Virginia prohibits lawyers from asking jurors about their political views or social attitudes unless they directly pertain to the facts of the case.
VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY
Juries are very important to the legal process because they bring in individuals with a fresh, unbiased perspective, he said. Unlike legal professionals, jurors have not heard the same types of cases over and over. The system provides an opportunity for the community to speak, rather than only seasoned professionals.
For example, in a series of eight similar cases over two years, Virginia jurors sent a message to the legal community about auto accidents that caused little injury or property damage. In each case, the juries knew the accident was the fault of the defendant, his or her insurance had offered compensation and the prosecution felt more compensation was needed.
In all eight cases, the jury found the defendant responsible for the accident but did not award any reparations to the plaintiff.
“That was a message to the plaintiff’s [attorneys],” Bell said. “If you’re going to come in here with an automobile accident case … a soft tissue injury and not much damage to the car, don’t be expecting multi thousands of dollars out of the jury.” Those types of cases have nearly disappeared from Virginia courts, with lawyers opting to settle them without going to trial.
Bell said Virginia did a study in 1998 that compared results of jury trials to trials decided by judges. The study found that, despite Virginia being one of the most diverse states in the country, verdicts on a given charge were “actually more consistent if given out by a jury than by a judge,” he said.
Sometimes the jury system is criticized for handing out excessive penalties, Bell said, such as harsh sentencing of convicted burglars during a period when daytime burglaries were common and the community felt terrorized. Virginia is one of four U.S. states in which juries determine guilt or innocence and the appropriate sentence or damages. In most states, the judge determines the penalty based on guidelines.
“I think you could argue that there is some sense to that because it’s a lot easier job for the jury to determine ‘did the accused do it or not’ without worrying about what the punishment’s going to be,” he said.
U.S. LITIGATION, BUT NOT TRIALS, ON THE RISE
Even though civil litigation has increased across the United States, the number of jury trial is declining.
“I think the reason that civil trials have been declining is, contrary to the urban legend, juries really don’t give out money willy-nilly, at least that’s my experience, and the plaintiff’s lawyers know that and they’re tending to settle these cases more often than not,” he said.
As for criminal cases, in the past when only judges had access to a defendant’s criminal record, many accused criminals opted for a jury trial in hopes that, without that knowledge, the jury would be more likely to acquit or assign a lighter sentence. However, most courts now provide juries with a defendant’s criminal record, thereby eliminating that advantage.
Bell said he is not concerned that the number of jury trials is going down. “The guaranteed constitutional right is still there, and I think that’s the important thing,” he said.
Jury trials send an important message about the American legal system, he said. “It’s subject to everyone, and everyone is subject to it. … And it works. People have confidence in it.”
