THE jury system presupposes an optimistic view of mankind: It presupposes that most citizens of normal intelligence can put aside their prejudices and preoccupations, at least for the duration of a trial, and render a true verdict on an accused (or a plaintiff) according to the evidence laid before them. In other words, jurors will put their legal duty before every other consideration.
The jury system also presupposes a high general level of trust in the legal system itself, and in the legitimacy of society asit isat present constituted. Where punishments are cruel or excessive, as they were under England’s Bloody Code (according to which there were over 200 capital offenses, some of them trivial), juries refuse to convict, and undue severity becomes the handmaiden of impunity.
Comments