01 July 2009

Some Differences Between States

In the U.S. federal system, the state and national laws cover different kinds of crimes and civil disputes. Jury practices differ somewhat between the state and federal courts and even among state courts. Paula L. Hannaford-Agor is director of the Center for Jury Studies at the National Center for State Courts.

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

By Paula L. Hannaford-Agor

Trial by jury is a trademark characteristic of the U.S. justice system. More jury trials are conducted in the United States each year than in any other country in the world. Moreover, the United States uses jury trials for less serious criminal cases (misdemeanors), civil cases, and, in some states, even in cases involving municipal ordinance violations. This is a marked contrast to other countries that reserve jury trials for their most serious criminal cases.

Although trial by jury is a relatively common event in U.S. courts, the procedures employed in those trials are anything but uniform. Significant differences exist in jury trial practices among the different state courts and between state and federal courts.

One difference is the number of jurors impaneled to hear cases. Historically, juries consisted of 12 persons, and this is still the number used for most serious criminal cases. But 16 states use smaller juries of six, seven, or eight people to try less serious criminal cases, and 17 states and the federal courts use smaller juries to try civil cases.

States also differ on whether a jury’s verdict must be unanimous. Two states permit nonunanimous verdicts in criminal trials, and 16 states permit nonunanimous verdicts in civil cases.

For the most part, courts have similar rules about who is qualified to be a juror: adult (age 18 or older), U.S. citizen, and legal resident in the geographic area served by the court. But there are growing differences in practice concerning whether people who have been convicted of a crime are eligible to serve; some states have a permanent disqualification for any criminal conviction, others permit people to serve as jurors after some time has passed (10 to 20 years, for example), and others have no restrictions related to criminal background at all.

As the United States becomes more demographically and linguistically diverse, there is also increased discussion about permitting people who are not fluent in English to serve as jurors with assistance of foreign language interpreters. So far, only the state of New Mexico does this on a routine basis.

The U.S. justice system is also characterized by overlapping state and federal courts. There are only 94 federal district courts with 678 judges compared to more than 3,000 state courts and more than 16,000 state court judges. Many of the nation’s founders were highly suspicious of a strong national government and specifically amended the U.S. Constitution to protect the authority of state governments against encroachment by the federal government. As a result, most of the laws enumerated in statutes, regulations, and common law are actually state laws.

Federal juries hear only cases involving violations of federal law, which typically involve crimes having national impact such as interstate drug manufacture and distribution, criminal racketeering, or terrorism; violations of federal civil regulations including labor conditions, employment discrimination, or environmental laws; and civil disputes involving people from different states. For the most part, federal jury practices tend to follow those of the state courts in which the federal courts are located.

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.