The American Criminal Jury
![handle is hein.journals/lcp62 and id is 251 raw text is: THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JURY
NANCY JEAN KING*
I
INTRODUCTION
The criminal jury, after its importation to North America by English set-
tlers, evolved into a unique institution in the United States. Across the centu-
ries, prominent features of American law and culture have left their mark on
the criminal jury: Americans' distrust of the judiciary, their passion for open
procedures and unfettered public discourse about those procedures, their
struggle to overcome racial and ethnic injustice, their commitment to adver-
sarial adjudication, and the dual state-federal justice system. This brief exposi-
tion will describe the American criminal jury generally, focusing on those as-
pects of that institution that distinguish it from juries in other parts of the
world.
II
THE CRIMINAL JURY IN THE NEW NATION
It was a highly publicized case from the colonial era, the trial of John Peter
Zenger, that is credited with impress[ing] thousands of Americans with the
importance of the right to a jury as a bulwark against official oppression.' In
1734, Zenger, an American newspaperman, was charged by the British Crown
with the crime of seditious libel for mocking the Royal Governor, a widely de-
tested man named Cosby, in the New York Weekly Journal.2 Court officials
took pains to assure that the jury pool included supporters of Cosby,' but some
of the veniremen were of Dutch ancestry and maintained anti-British senti-
ments. The jury chosen included a mariner, a brewer, a vintner, an artisan, a
baker, a merchant, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a currier, a tradesman, and a
clerk . An aging but renowned lawyer, Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, de-
Copyright © 1999 by Law and Contemporary Problems
This article is also available at http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/62LCPKing.
* Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University.
1. JOHN GUINTHER, THE JURY IN AMERICA 30 (1988).
2. See LEONARD W. LEVY, EMERGENCE OF A FREE PRESS 39-40 (1985).
3. See id. at 41 (noting that the original panel, ultimately challenged by lawyers for Zenger, was
made up of Cosby appointees and friends).
4. See LIVINGSTON RUTHERFURD, JOHN PETER ZENGER, His PRESS, His TRIAL AND A
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ZENGER IMPRINTS 62 (1904).
5. See JAMES ALEXANDER, A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE CASE AND TRIAL OF JOHN PETER
ZENGER 210 n.56 (1963).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/lcp62&div=16&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The American Criminal Jury
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