Juries: Yes or No?

[MelchyBeau]

I think you can choose to have the Judge rule instead of the jury. I could be wrong in this regard though

[bobman0330]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Juries for criminal, just a judge for civil.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I know why, but what's the reason for your distinction?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think juries are the best fact-finders in the modern world, so using them in civil trials seems inefficient. But I do think it's important that ordinary people be involved in a criminal trial, as a check on the justice system.

[DougShrapnel]

A jury of your peers needs to be ablosihed post haste. The amount of knowledge required to decide a criminal case is not typical of the average jurist.

[Poofler]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bad question without proposing an alternative IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
If abolish, what would you rather see?

[/ QUOTE ]
That was your job, champ.

[/ QUOTE ]

Huh???????? This makes it a good,wothwhile question, poll?

Anyway, if jury nullification was done away with in this country, I'd be shipping out immediately.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry it doesn't meet your lofty standards. I shouldn't have to provide you with all the alternatives. If I list them, I'll just leave some solutions out. And, if you don't have anything else more specific in mind, you probably don't care enough about the issue to vote in the poll anyway.

[Poofler]

[ QUOTE ]
A jury of your peers needs to be ablosihed post haste. The amount of knowledge required to decide a criminal case is not typical of the average jurist.

[/ QUOTE ]

[deadmoney98]

Democracy is the worst political system, except for all the other ones.

The jury system is the same way. It is certainly flawed, but at the same time it is the best anyone can come up with to consistently meet our definition of justice

[Smasharoo]

I have no meaningful way to express my preference, because it's a monopoly.

Right, that's why private arbitration firms don't exist.

Oh wait.

[Msgr. Martinez]

[ QUOTE ]

I have no meaningful way to express my preference, because it's a monopoly.

Right, that's why private arbitration firms don't exist.

Oh wait.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nielsio,

next time you open an account with a bank, or sign up for a cellphone, or are presented with a EULA, notice that it probably contains an arbitration agreement. You are free to express your preferences to the party with whom you're contracting, and try to convince them that any arbitrable matter between you be heard (or not heard) by a jury. They will tell you to F off, but you'll have expressed your preference.

And as a side note, our evil federal government, through the Federal Arbitration Act, has mandated that arbitration agreements are favored and must be respected by both state and federal courts.

[bisonbison]

I've really tried to avoid the AC arguments since Tom and I buried the hatchet, but Nielsio, I think you can state a preference for a method of judging 'criminal' cases (murder, kidnapping, etc.) without endorsing the state.

[BCPVP]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you can choose to have the Judge rule instead of the jury. I could be wrong in this regard though

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, you can waive your right to a jury trial. When you do so, you get a bench trial.