The American Jury SystemHow are juries selected in the United States? What forces influence juries in making their decisions? Are some cases simply beyond the ability of juries to decide? How useful is the entire jury system? In this important and accessible book, a prominent expert on constitutional law examines these and other issues concerning the American jury system. Randolph N. Jonakait describes the historical and social pressures that have driven the development of the jury system; contrasts the American jury system to the legal process in other countries; reveals subtle changes in the popular view of juries; examines how the news media, movies, and books portray and even affect the system; and discusses the empirical data that show how juries actually operate and what influences their decisions. Jonakait endorses the jury system in both civil and criminal cases, spelling out the important social role juries play in legitimizing and affirming the American justice system. |
Contents
The MiddleClass Household | 13 |
The Ideal of Domesticity | 29 |
The Climax of Domesticity c 18301880 | 53 |
Husband and Wife | 55 |
Father and Child | 81 |
Boys into Men | 104 |
Convivial Pleasures and Public Duties | 125 |
Domesticity under Strain c 18701900 | 145 |
Juries and Community Values | 66 |
Abide the Issue | 77 |
Jury Size and Jury Performance | 89 |
Unanimity and Hung Juries | 96 |
The Vicinage | 107 |
The Most Diverse of Our Democratic Bodies | 116 |
Challenges for Cause | 130 |
Peremptory Challenges | 141 |
The Decline of Deference | 147 |
The Flight from Domesticity | 172 |
Conclusion | 197 |
A Note on Method | 200 |
Notes | 202 |
Sources | 231 |
Index | 246 |
Preface | 265 |
Acknowledgments | xix |
Introduction | xxi |
Overview | 3 |
Checking Abuses of Power | 20 |
Hammering Out Facts | 43 |
Common terms and phrases
accused acquit adversary system American attorneys awards bench trial Benson bourgeois boys Cambridge civil juries concluded conviction crime culture damages decision defendant deliberations determine Diary domestic E.F. Benson early Edward Edward White Benson Elizabeth Gaskell England Evangelical evidence example fact fair cross fair cross section father fatherhood federal Feminism gender guilty household hung jury husband instructions John Heaton jurors jury nullification jury pools jury selection jury service jury system jury trials jury verdicts jury's Kalven late Victorian Law Review lawyers less London manliness marriage married masculine middle middle-class moral mother murder nineteenth century Oxford parents parties patriarchy percent peremptory challenges person plaintiff political potential jurors presented prosecution prosecutor questions reason reform result role Sarah sexual social society Stovin Supreme Court testimony tion Tosh trial judge Victorian period voir dire wife William witness wives women