The Debate Club discussion

Thanks for the suggestion, Gia!

helo!

So I understand why jury duty happens and is assigned to people. but why cant it just be a suggestion? i dont think it should be a law to contribute to cases that you arent acquainted with in any way whatsoever. youre supposed to have a jury of your peers, and you have random people to help decide the ultimate punishment. like i get your 'peers' may be biased, but isnt that the point?

I personally disagree. Yes, there should be some bias, its almost impossible for there to not be, but I feel like we need outside povs to really make a fair case.

I’m not extremely informed on what jury duty is, can someone give me a rundown?

same here

a dreadful thing
LOL jk

jury duty, wehn you turn 18, is kinda like a lottery typa thing where you do it every few years ( not everyone ) and have to attend a trial as part of the jury

yeah i get why we have it. it is annoying, but the thing is if it werent required then no one would go so. we need a way to get random unbiased people in the jury.

according to uscourts.gov, jury duty is a civic duty in which jurors listen to a testimony, review evidence, and render decisions in civil and criminal trials. Most U.S. citizens who are 18 or older may serve on a federal jury.

I understand why jury duty is necessary, as it is a away to exercise the 6th amendment. I think if the states did not make it mandatory, then nobody would go. It would become a volunteer act, and then the numbers of those who take part in jury duty would dwindle significantly.

Rural respondents are more likely to report volunteering compared to urban respondents (https://www.census.gov/library/workin...), therefore, the places where jury duty is mostly necessary wouldn't have the people necessary to complete these trials, and could possibly lead to necessary trials not being carried out.

if you were in court, would you want 12 random people to decide your fate?

Thats the point- for it to be unbiased

sara wrote: "if you were in court, would you want 12 random people to decide your fate?"

honestly no

sara wrote: "if you were in court, would you want 12 random people to decide your fate?"

The point of jury duty is to be randomly selected. Lets say you're on trial for murdering someone on the first degree. Would you rather have a group of your peers being on the jury, 9/12 of them are your enemies, and 3/12 of them are your closest friends? As I stated before, jury duty is an exercise of the 6th amendment (the right to a fair trial), or would you rather have people who have no idea who you are, therefore no bias, or people who hate you decide if you're going to jail or not?

but honestly, 12 people is very little. there can easily be a bias just by random selection because there's so few people