Anonymous asked this question on 4/28/2000:

Do you know what the advantages/disadvantages are of the jury system? Do you know of any web sites about them either? I am asking specifically about the Australian sytem, do you know anythign about that? Or any web sites? Thankyou :-)

bjo328 gave this response on 4/29/2000:

I am afraid I can only answer part of your question. I dont know of any web sites that can give you more information. The advantages and disadvantages of the jury system are a matter of perspective because what is an advantage to one side is a disadvantage to the other. The jury is supposed to be the protector of the individuals rights from the decision of the state by having the case presented to peers or equals of the accused who by being peers can understand the motivation or plight of the accused. Presumably they are to understand the actions of the accused and judge whether the actions were prudent and acceptable to common values of equals in the same society. If the actions were beyond acceptable response to the circumstance then the accused in guilty and should be punished so that future actions are discouraged and societal standards are maintained. Corporate executives would see actions in a diffrent light than office workers etc. An all black jury would see things differently than an all white jury if the defendant was white or black. Similar cultural experiences of the accused is important in the selection of a jury. But this is really not an advantage to the state prosecuting the case because a jury of peers can nullify or disregard the statesd action against an accused based on their distaste of the state, while it is an advantage to the accused. (witness the OJ Simpson trial) Prosecutors and Defense attorneys are limited to what can be presented as evidence by existing laws. Evidence has to have been obtained according to established procedures. If the evidence has not been obtained under the accepted constraints, it can not be presented. Thus the jury does not ever hear all of the evidence gathered in a case. This is either an advantage or disadvantage depending on your perspective. Please note that if the state has evidence that is not gathered in the acceptable way but leads to a possibility that the defendant may be innocent, it has a responsiblity to let the defense attorneys know of its existence even though it may not be presented to the jury. A jury watches a performance and has to make a judgement of the guilt or innocence of the accused based on partial information presented to it by skilled performers, the attornies, both prosecuting and defending. Since they never hear all of the information and evidence in a case, they have to rely on their life experiences to weigh what they have heard. This works for the accused when the accused has a jury of peers, but it works against society because a guilty person may be freed. Similarly, it works against the accused if the jury are not peers and does not identify with the accused. If we trusted the state, the best way to have a case heard is just before a just judge, who having been a lawyer or trained in law, knows the games that lawyers play in the presentation of their case. The judge is aware of all the facts in the case, including inadmissable evidence, and also, has knowledge of case law, that is, previous decisions on similarities in previous cases, to account for in rendering a decision. In the current system of jurisprudence, you have prosecutors protecting the laws that a society has promulgated for its continuance, and defense attorneys, vigorously defending their clients from the accusation of having broken those laws. It is rare, very rare that an accused is innocent because of all the safeguards in place to prevent an innocent person from having to appear in court. In these situations, the defense attorney tries to convince the jury that there is doubt that the state has accused the right individual, based on the limited evidence presented, or that their are circumstances that mitigate the actions of the accused. I hope you can see the answer to you simple question of a very complicated process

The average rating for this answer is 5.

Anonymous rated this answer a 5.

Thankyou!! :-)