Would the legal system benefit from terminating juries in

court cases?

By: Dharshwana Shree Muralidharan

Originating from the greek geliast court to the modern form of jury trial
emerging in 11th century England. The jury system has a long and profound
history in a myriad of nations to bring democracy into judicial systems, thus
ensuring that the final verdict is decided not only decided upon one point of view
but rather multiple unbiased ones. However, the efficacy of this system is being
questioned by the general public and numerous judicial officers based on the
reliability of juries’ decisions and if trials are time and cost effective. Therefore ,
raising the question of whether the legal system would benefit from terminating
juries in court cases.
One of the fundamental rules of the jury system is to guarantee there is no
bias among the jury. This rule proved to be effective until the 21st century as
information on cases was limited to newspaper coverage. However, 21st-century
technology makes obtaining information on the case such as criminal records on
the defendants easier for jurors. A 2010 study found that 70% of Jurors serving
these cases were likely to look at the information on the case and the defendants
before going to trial (The Bar Coucil Staff, 2020). The study also suggests that
jurors who were exposed to negative information tend to vote on the defendant as
guilty, compared to those who are exposed to no information. During deliberations,
juries often share the information they learned outside of court according to a study
from North Western University (Tremmel, 2007).
 Due to the fact that jurors are selected at random from the electoral roll, they
lack experience in the legal field. This can lead to altered perceptions of justice
among the jurors’ verdicts. A 2001 study identified that this may cause jurors to
“favor particular verdicts as the trial progresses.” Eventually, these opinions can
lead to jurors distorting evidence and favoring their preferred verdict. This is a
phenomenon known as confirmation bias (Dror, 2022) . All human beings have a
natural tendency to put a bias in their judgment, thus judiciary officers such as
judges are screened before they take the bench, and they must give detailed reasons
for their judgment during cases that are later scrutinized to identify bias. However,
preventive mechanisms to battle bias within juries are non-existent other than the
oath and the Judge’s instructions, thus exacerbating the issue of bias among jurors.
The overarching costs and time needed for trial by jury question the efficacy
of the jury system. A normal trial takes up to 1-2 days, meanwhile trial by jury
takes up to 3-4 days and can even span several weeks if there is a hung jury, a case
in which the jurors are unable to come to a verdict. During this time 12 jurors
receive $40-60 per day to make up income losses, in addition to an extra allowance
for accommodations (USA Court Staff). These costs are a factor of why only 1% of
cases in the 21st century are through trial by jury (Smith, Macqueen, 2017).
In theory, the jury system is a beneficial part of the legal system that ensures
tyranny and bias are kept outside of the courtroom. However, there are various
flaws that undermine the jury system such as high costs and time needed for trial
and miscarriages of justice such as bias. If legal systems were to continue using
trial by jury it is crucial to implement preventive mechanisms for bias and time anf
cost effective ways to have trial by jury. If this is not achievable, the legal system
would benefit from terminating the jury system.
 Works Cited

Dror, Itier, et al. “Opinion: Juries Are Subject to All Kinds of Biases When It Comes to

Deciding on a Trial.” UCL News, UCL, 6 May 2022,

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/feb/opinion-juries-are-subject-all-kinds-biases-w

hen-it-comes-deciding-trial.

“Guest Blog: How Will Restricting Jury Trial and Reducing Jury Numbers Affect the

Delivery of Justice?” Homepage, 2019,

https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/guest-blog-how-will-restricting-jury-trial-

and-reducing-jury-numbers-affect-the-delivery-of-justice.html.

“Juror Pay.” United States Courts, USC,

https://www.uscourts.gov/services-forms/jury-service/juror-pay.

Smith, Jeffrey Q, and Grant R MacQueen. “Going, Going, but Not Quite Gone: Trials

Continue to Decline in Federal and State Courts. Does It Matter?” Judicature, 7

July 2022,

https://judicature.duke.edu/articles/going-going-but-not-quite-gone-trials-continue

-to-decline-in-federal-and-state-courts-does-it-matter/.

Tremmel, Pat Vaughan. “News.” New Study Shows How Often Juries Get It Wrong:

Northwestern University News, Northwestern, 26 June 2007,

https://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2007/06/juries.html.