About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 Crim. L. Brief 3 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/crimlbrf1 and id is 1 raw text is: THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY JURY: WORST OF TIMES OR BEST OF TIMES? Valerie P. Hans* I am pleased to be invited to reflect on the contemporary American jury for this issue of the Criminal Law Brief In thinking about legal developments, new research findings, and the continuing swirl of controversy over this venerable American institution, I observe the same paradoxical condition that Charles Dickens found in 18th Century London: It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. There is evidence of both the expansion of jury trial rights, yet contraction of jury trials. Research evidence indicates that juries perform well, yet the 21st Century jury confronts more complex decision making tasks and continuing doubts about its fairness and competence.1 Our starting point is the rapidly declining us criminal jury. Centuries ago, trial by jury was the method of resolving criminal charges; but it has be downward slide for some time, with judges and es prosecutors taking over more and more of the jury's fi Juries waned as the legal system became incr professionalized. Over the last few decades, a nu factors have conspired to reduce jury trial rates even further. One, of course, is the increasing cost of a trial. . o The introduction of 7 - sentencing guidelines and 'S so mandatory minimum J ogQ0 sentences constitutes another 000 important factor. Guidelines and mandatory minimum sentences make the gamble of a jury trial less attractive to defendants and consequently bolster the power of prosecutors to settle cases through plea agreements. More recent figures show that the jury trial rate has plummeted. Researchers at the National Center for State Courts examined the pre (Se sky cri tria res sub 19' the tria feh dis 20( jur se of the Ju5 primary cas valence of jury trials in state courts from 1976 to 2002.3 'e table below). They found that although criminal filings 'rocketed during this time period, the absolute number of minal jury trials decreased by 15%.4 The jury 1-i T Federal District State Courts of Courts General Il rate, as a 1 i Jurisdiction ult, dropped Filings Jury Filings [Jury )stantially. In I Trials I Trials 76, for instance, Cvi 260,271 14000 7,171 .842-° ;3125 ewer e 52 jury Criminal 59,923 12268I 4924710 54625 s per 1,000 32 Total 320,194 7,268 12096552 1 87,750 ony case. i positions. By 02, the felony y trial rate was t 22 per 1,000 es.5 een on a A decline in the proportion of cases resolved by jury specially is also apparent in federal trial courts, where juries now 6 anction.2 resolve fewer than 5% of criminal dispositions. Indeed, one easingly might argue rather convincingly that the criminal jury is mber of becoming so rare that it will fade into oblivion before much of the 2lst Century is gone. Jury trials are S. .fewer and they appear to --------------- include m ore ---challenging evidence for juries to evaluate. In the mid- 1950s, when Kalven and Zeisel began their famous 82 , 14 9 e Uo '9 . 4 i-e SS 2J, oo national study of jury trials, the majority (72%) of the criminal jury trials that they studied included no expert witnesses.7 Trial judges are more likely J- --u ~to rate today's criminal ... jury trials as complex.8 Today, it is also more Benri<ri, common for the ....- .. attorneys to offer 2 1964 1988 19138 !9. 199? 1994 19. 1998 2003 200 experts at trial. These experts might include Criminal Law Brief '976 1978 1980 l98 ---- -----------------------

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most