A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES : Platform : Does a Jury or a Judge Dispense Better Justice?

I was called for jury duty two years ago and sat around the entire two weeks. I was put on jury panels three times and then wasn’t picked for the final juries.

I don’t think justice is served by juries. I think it’s a lawyers’ game. While I was waiting to see if I’d get on a jury, I talked to a man who said he’d been summoned for jury duty 16 times and never gotten on a jury. He told me he was a civil engineer and claimed no lawyer would ever take a civil engineer because they want jurors who are dumb and can be influenced emotionally.

Moreover, to obtain justice you need a jury of your peers. Yet it’s clear that mainly whites are chosen as jurors, and it’s mainly minorities who get tried.

Nonetheless, I’d trust a jury over a judge if I were on trial. I might get a right-wing hanging judge appointed by some right-wing governor. I think people have a better chance for compassion with a jury.