what is the purpose and function of a grand jury? and why is it held in secret?

Question

i have always wondered about the workings of a grand jury. and why is it done in secret? say you are arrested for robbery why can't you go straight to trial why a grand jury first? and why in secret? please help me with this i just don't understand.

Answer 1

Grand Juries hand out indictments...Not all states have them.
Basically it insures that the states has a decent chance to convict and spare both the taxpayers and the prospective criminal the expense of a trial where the state are almost guaranteed to lose.

The states that don't have them, have an alternative where they have a prelim hearing to determine whether they have enough evidence to proceed to trial.

Answer 2

The purpose of a grand jury is to determine if there is enough evidence to have a trial based on simple yes or no fact of if a crime occurred or law was broken. If the grand jury fails to see the need for a trail, the case is dropped. They aren't really held in secret, per say, there is just no notification to the person being indited as they tend to run these in large quantities. A gran jury hearing can be a short as 5 minutes. A real sharp lawyer can contest certain aspects of a grand jury finding as being too vague on the evidence and can have the hearing redone or, in some cases, have the indictment thrown out all together. In a nutshell, it's the preliminary trail to see if there's enough evidence to have a public trial.

Answer 3

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RE:
what is the purpose and function of a grand jury? and why is it held in secret?
i have always wondered about the workings of a grand jury. and why is it done in secret? say you are arrested for robbery why can't you go straight to trial why a grand jury first? and why in secret? please help me with this i just don't understand.