The article below highlights the growing reluctance of defendants to request a criminal jury trial. Although this article focuses on the state of Virginia where juries not only decide guilt or innocence, but also sentence the defendant, many of the reasons offered for foregoing the jury have general applicability. While there are definite benefits to plea bargaining (saving money and time and increasing the likelihood of a specific sentence), drawbacks, as mentioned in the article, do exist.
Powhatan News: Jury Rate at an All-Time Low in Virginia
...Bowers believes less citizen participation in the justice system has had some positive effects—helping eliminate or lessen racial bias and public passion. But, he said, things may have swung too far in the other direction.
“People see criminal justice today, rightly, as a professionalized affair where most of the decisions that end up disposing of criminal cases happen behind closed doors—prosecutors and defense attorneys reaching agreements outside the light of day.“
As a result, he said, public proceedings often merely are ritual endings for decisions that were reached earlier outside of view. More jury trials, Bowers said, “led to people finding a legitimacy in the criminal-justice system that people don’t necessarily find today.“
Douglass said juries have other crucial roles.
“If few cases are ever tested through jury trials, there can be a danger we don’t get things right. It’s good for prosecutors and police to face that test,“ Douglass said.
“And it goes the other way, too,“ he said. “It’s important for juries to have a voice in identifying the guilty.“
To read the entire article go here.
