Jury trial safeguards defendants against corrupt prosecutors and biased judges

Evidence

Trial by jury allows ordinary citizens to participate in the administration of justice and thus acts as a barrier against governmental tyranny. As Justice Byron White noted in Duncan v. Louisiana, “Providing an accused with the right to be tried by a jury of his peers gives him an inestimable safeguard against the corrupt or overzealous prosecutor and against the compliant, biased, or eccentric judge.”? The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitutions secures the right to trial by jury in federal criminal cases, and the Seventh Amendment secures that right in civil cases when more than $20 is at stake. In 1968, the Supreme Court ruled that defendants in state court also have a federal constitutional right to a jury trial in most criminal cases. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1292

Categorization

• XREF: Links Duncan v. Louisiana (1968) and the incorporation doctrine to judicial-structure material in the course. — connects to: Public scrutiny of trials protects against government abuse of defendants — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1293; Jury verdicts can convict the innocent when racial bias dominates — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 34; Judge behavior can falsely appear biased when prosecutors treat defendants unequally. (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Public scrutiny of trials protects against government abuse of defendants #expands (0.90) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1293
• Jury verdicts can convict the innocent when racial bias dominates #complicates (0.85) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 34
• Apparent judicial racial bias can stem from prosecutors’ bias, not judges’ own. #exemplifies (0.85)
• Judge behavior can falsely appear biased when prosecutors treat defendants unequally. #expands (0.80)
• Plea bargains have pushed jury trials into a small corner of the criminal process #complicates (0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 845
• Trial procedure itself biases jurors toward the death penalty after a guilty verdict #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2004
• Jurors displace guilt onto the legal system’s decisions #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2001
• Selective evidence can mislead juries about the case’s credibility. #complicates (0.75) — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 2644
• Diversifying the judiciary can worsen in-group bias against defendants #complicates (0.75)
• Unequal legal representation raises the risk of convicting the innocent. #complicates (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 722
• Race-neutral justifications easily mask biased peremptory jury strikes #complicates (0.75)
• Judges also sanction defendants for disrespect toward legal agents #complicates (0.75) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 908
• Jurors punish defendants more when crimes fit racial stereotypes #complicates (0.75) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 872
• Capital trials are deliberately structured to let jurors avoid moral responsibility #complicates (0.75)
• Bias affects even well-intentioned egalitarian defense attorneys who represent the accused #complicates (0.75) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 665