01 July 2009

About This Issue

This article appears in the July 2009 issue of eJournal USA, “Anatomy of a Jury Trial.”

In 12 Angry Men, a classic Hollywood film of the 1950s, the deliberations inside a jury room take center stage. Henry Fonda, as juror number 8, holds out under pressure against conviction of a teenage Hispanic boy charged with killing his father, slowly converting the other jurors — the wise and foolish, the old and young, the compassionate and bigoted — through tense, thrilling deliberations to a verdict of not guilty.

Real-life jury trials are not usually so dramatic or inspiring, but they still have a lot of merit, by most accounts.

Juries — usually groups of 6 or 12 ordinary citizens — provide a crucial service for their fellow citizens: Just as in medieval England, where they got started, juries prevent government, even democratic government, from pursuing oppressive prosecutions.

“Jurors wield the awesome power of the state to punish, or not to punish, citizens,” television journalist Fred Graham writes in this issue of eJournal USA. “In that sense, they stand above the sovereign — and that has made them the subject of fascination around the world.”

The jury system is no more perfect than the larger justice system or even democratic government itself. In the United States, whose citizens are ever aiming to create a more perfect union, judicial leaders are directing refinements in the jury system. They are promoting composition of juries more representative of the diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds of the community.

This issue in a sense cross-examines the U.S. jury system, with eyewitness testimony from jurors themselves, judges, a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, a witness, and a reporter. A point-counterpoint debate between Dutch and American law professors makes explicit the question the journal poses repeatedly: Is a jury trial the best way to arrive at justice when a crime occurs? We also probe the intersection between popular culture and the drama of the jury room through photos from the American Bar Association’s list of best trial movies and an interview with a producer of the popular television show Law & Order.

Here is a striking fact: In their lifetimes, 29 percent of adult Americans have served on a jury. And, arguably, they are better citizens for it.

 – The Editors