What's the point of having a trial by jury...?

Question

when the only thing that it takes for the guilty to go free is to have a high-priced lawyer?

Answer 1

if you don't want the facts to really matter. If you want them to feel sorry for the poor mother, or sorry for the boy from a bad home. When you want someone to get off because they are black and have been oppressed ( all you need is one person on a jury to believe that is a good excuse.

Answer 2

High-priced lawyers are also highly-publicized lawyers. When they get a win, or when the public senses that an injustice has occurred, everyone hears about it.

There are far more people with low-end or court-appointed attorneys that get off easy - this is why we need sex offender registries. There are also plenty of people whose sentences are plead down due to prison over-crowding and lenient judges.

Finally, if I was a criminal, I'd much rather have 12 people of varying intelligence off the street deciding my fate than a group of people who know the law and are skilled at reading character.

In the end, a trial by a jury of peers has its ups and downs for all involved. And for every O.J. Simpson or Michael Jackson who gets off, there's always a Ken Lay or Scott Peterson who is convicted.

Answer 3

That is not necessarily true. If the attorney can convince the jury that his client is not guilty than the plan works. But there is not a lawyer alive in this country that can predict what a jury is going to do. I certainly wouldn't want to leave my fate to a hateful or racist judge. You stand a much better chance with the jury of your peers.

Answer 4

Many guilty rich people go to jail. Jeff Skilling and Martha Stewart for example. The jury system evolved out of the common law of England. Would you prefer trial by combat? Come up with a better system and we'll use it. It's flawed, but it's the best justice system in the world.

Answer 5

One of the six principles of democracy is to establish equal justice under the law. There are also a few Amendments that grant the right for people to have a trial by jury. It's part of our fair judicial system. And it must stay intact.
If the correct evidence is present, a felon will not get off the hook. That's just how it works.

Answer 6

The jury determines questions of fact. The jury decides what actually happened. And the point having a jury is so that a person is judged and penalized based on what actually happened.

Now, both sides get to try to tell their story. And both sides get to try and convince the jury to believe them. It all comes down to who is the better storyteller. And like any other skill, people who are better and more experienced and more successful get paid more.

Answer 7

To help in the fact finding process whereby a Judge Alone Hearing might not be enough.

Answer 8

Is not always the case -- Bernie Ebbers, Ken Lay, Andy Fastow etc. all had expensive laywers and all lost.