Why jury selection?
America has created a system that was meant to be fair and give rights to the people. In the Sixth Amendment of the Bill of Rights american citizens get the right to a speedy and public trial. Also the sixth amendment "provides impartial jury trials in criminal cases" (US Courts). Society considers jury duty an important part in runny a democracy that failure to report to the courthouse when summoned can result in a fine. Federal law lets people be on a jury without the fear of loosing their job, but while this seems beneficial many people lack the motivation to be part of a jury. Many people try to get out of jury duty by saying they are biased towards an opinion. That has to do with the lack of interest to be part of a jury. Many potential jurors do not want to be part of a jury that will lead them to having to miss many working days and in some cases even months. These reasons are understandable because not everyone can afford to loose days of work or they are mothers and cannot leave their children, the list goes on. People not wanting to be part of the jury is one part of the problem. The problem is if jury's are truly unbiased. Lawyers question people and can assume where they would be biased to create their jury. The other is who the people lawyers want. A jury depends on the case and lawyers look for people who will sympathize with their client. To lawyers they want to win. However, winning doesn't always mean that it is morally correct. In high profile cases like the ones in this website show how a jury can make a decision that causes the nation to split in agreeing and disagreeing with the decisions. The complexity of how jurors are selected is something very important to understand. In this website the jury selection process is laid out. In the cases like OJ Simpson murder trial, George Zimmerman case and the Ferguson case you will dive into the selection of the jury and the outcome of that. Then having the knowledge of who the jurors are you will branch out to what the decisions jurors made to then what the US has to say about it.
Citations:
Jury Service in Federal Courts. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-informed/federal-court-basics/jury-service-federal-courts.aspx
Citations:
Jury Service in Federal Courts. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-informed/federal-court-basics/jury-service-federal-courts.aspx