I am doing my civic duty this week and deciding the guilt or innocence of a total stranger based on the opinions of other total strangers. This has inspired a quickie before I must do my duty and probably not be allowed to blog. I am really not sure of the law in that regard.Anyways...
I understand the concept of a jury trial and fully support it. In theory, it is the perfect way to decide guilt. You place a group of people together who know nothing about the subject and present them with all the evidence you have. These people then take all of that and decide if it probably happened that way.
The entire "reasonable doubt" concept is bullishit. There is always a reasonable doubt. I am not talking about the aliens may have come down and possessed the accused or voodoo or anything like that. There is always the chance that the prosecutor is wrong. Eye witnesses can be wrong. Even scientific evidence can be wrong. There is no “beyond a reasonable doubt” unless I actually saw the crime occur, but then I would be a witness and not a juror.
I need to stop now. With the world today, I can see this blog entry being brought up to stop be from being a juror on a case I would really want to be a part of. Admit it; as much as we complain about jury duty, we love court-room dramas. It would be awesome to be a part of some really exciting, but short, trial. One of those every witness is animated and exciting and lots of twists trials. I admit to being a drama junkie. I go to sleep at least half the time listening to CourtTv.
Ok my loyal reader, and my new readers, I hope to return to you by tomorrow night, happily dismissed. If not, tread on! There are bad movies to be seen, bad television to give the warnings, bad songs to get stuck in your head, and bad words to say loudly to passing iguanas.
1 comment:
Hi there. I came via the Pop Snark Hooligan.
Isn't it funny how so few people question the concept of trial by jury? I mean, I was at jury duty a few years ago and the judge asked me if I would hold it against a defendant who did not testify on his own behalf. I almost said "of course I would". I mean, sure it's his right not to - but come on. If you choose not to, there's something wrong, right?
I have a friend who's a social psychologist and did research on jury attitudes. Did you know that regardless of evidence presented, how well groomed the lawyer's looked is a determinant in deliberations?
It's really creepy when you think about how your life could be determined by perfect strangers.
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