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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Judges and the Jury System

    A year or so ago we had a bunch of these students posting inquiries in the forum. A lot of the inquiries looked like homework problems. A few students claimed that they had a class assignment to try to find answers to questions like this through Internet forums and services.

    The fairness of a judge's verdict versus a jury's verdict is going to be somewhat contextual. That is, in some countries I would be more trusting of a judge than in others, although in those countries where I would be least trusting of a judge I suspect that I would not have any right to a jury, which moots the question.

    Conventional wisdom is that a criminal defendant is more likely to get a fair shake from a jury, than from a judge who is likely to have once been a prosecutor and who is assumed to have "heard it all before" and thus be skeptical of a defendant's stories and excuses. Statistically speaking, it appears that judges on the whole do give defendants a fair hearing, and some argue that they are more likely to acquit than jurors, but there's no scientific means available to accurately assess the difference.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    Ohio
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    1,094

    Default Re: Judges and the Jury System

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
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    A year or so ago we had a bunch of these students posting inquiries in the forum. A lot of the inquiries looked like homework problems. A few students claimed that they had a class assignment to try to find answers to questions like this through Internet forums and services.

    The fairness of a judge's verdict versus a jury's verdict is going to be somewhat contextual. That is, in some countries I would be more trusting of a judge than in others, although in those countries where I would be least trusting of a judge I suspect that I would not have any right to a jury, which moots the question.

    Conventional wisdom is that a criminal defendant is more likely to get a fair shake from a jury, than from a judge who is likely to have once been a prosecutor and who is assumed to have "heard it all before" and thus be skeptical of a defendant's stories and excuses. Statistically speaking, it appears that judges on the whole do give defendants a fair hearing, and some argue that they are more likely to acquit than jurors, but there's no scientific means available to accurately assess the difference.
    Ahh... I see. You always attempt to help answer a question even when the task seems enormous.

    A judge vs. jury? Independence of judiciary and doctrine of precedent? Valid judicial decisions or secret decisions of jury? They seem to be pretty complex questions stated so simply.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Judges and the Jury System

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
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    A year or so ago we had a bunch of these students posting inquiries in the forum. A lot of the inquiries looked like homework problems. A few students claimed that they had a class assignment to try to find answers to questions like this through Internet forums and services.
    I can assure you that this is not a simple homework problem. It is a big part of my internal assessment which requires active participation, including interviews and visits to courts. Very tough project indeed.

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