Term Papers on The Right To A Free Trial

Term Paper Title	The Right To A Free Trial
# of Words	1532
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.13

The Right To A Free Trial

One of the most important freedoms in the American judicial system is the right to a jury trial. This allows a minimum of six Americans, chosen from a list of registered voters, to determine a person’s guilt or innocence through deliberations. They have the power to express the conscious of society as well as interpret and judge the laws themselves. If they feel that a law is unconstitutional, evil, or even unfair they can void it for the circumstance by declaring the defendant not-guilty. The power of the jury is enormous and through time has become more equitable by decreasing the limitations to become a juror including race and sex. Part of the reasoning behind the right to a jury trial is to limit government power. Although judges should be fair and just, total power is too strong, and could be used to aid some people while harming others. As someone once said, “Power corrupts sometimes, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Many people thought anarchy would form through the use of a jury system, but no such thing has occurred. It has produced a feeling of involvement in the judicial system and government itself. Throughout this essay, a comparison of a real jury, a simulated jury, and Hollywood’s perception of a jury will be discussed. The television special, Inside the Jury Room, showed a videotaping of a real life jury as seen in a small criminal courtroom. The case was Wisconsin v. Leroy Reed, a criminal trial for the possession of a firearm by an ex-convict. The simulated jury concerned an ex-military man who shot two police officers, killing one and seriously injuring another. The police had broken into his house because there was probable cause to believe he had drugs. The man shot the officers because he thought they were robbing his house. The Hollywood version, titled 12 Angry Men, revolved around a teenage boy who was accused of murdering his father and could possibly lose his life if found guilty. The topics of jury selection and appearance, the jurors understanding of their significance, and the deliberation and verdict will be examined for the three juries.
The actual jury itself, has much bearing on how a verdict will result. Are the members compassionate? Rigid? Black? White? Rich? or Poor? All of these factors can influence a jury; this is why lawyers are so critical when making their decisions. In the past, juries only admitted white males, as in 12 Angry Men. Discrimination against blacks has always existed; and until the fifteenth amendment was passed, and the Grandfather Clause, White Primaries, and literacy test were declared unconstitutional, they could not vote. Women, although the population’s majority, were the last to be given suffrage rights. The men in the movie seemed affluent and business-like. Some of the men came from meager backgrounds, yet they all act as if they were solvent. Also, the men were adorned with professional attire. In contrast, Inside the Jury Room chose a group of jurors of mixed ethnic backgrounds and genders, in various occupational settings. There were psychiatrists, teachers, and business people with many different life experiences. Also, the dress was not at all formal. The differences among the jurors contributed greatly to the insight and opinions shared about the case. A psychiatrist was able to give her professional opinion on the man’s condition, mental retardation, while others could be more objective. A well-rounded jury can, in my opinion, produce a more educated and thought-out verdict. In the simulated jury, the jurors were selected randomly and personal opinions and biases, were not considered. This affected the decision tremendously. The majority of Maymester students are reverse-transfer students and tend to be, statistically, more conservative and tough than normal community college students. Ergo, the verdict was not fairly considered from a wide array of viewpoints. To the lawyer and the defendant, jury selection is probably the most important vehicle for attaining a verd...

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