ABA advocates innovations to American jury trial system
Lawyers's Weekly
July 23, 2005

In an endeavor that could affect millions of Americans called for jury duty each year, the American Bar Association has produced a progressive set of jury principles, aimed at increasing jury participation and improving conditions for jurors.

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Stephan Landsman, a professor at DePaul University College of Law and the reporter for the ABA jury project, said there is strong research in favor of 12-person juries.

"The social science data suggests very clearly that juries of 12 are more diverse, that their decisions are more likely to be widely accepted within the community and to be more accurate to the evidence," he said.

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"I think the criminal defense bar has been concerned that if the prosecutor screws up - leaves out a critical element of the crime - and the jurors' question goes exactly to that issue, then the state hasn't satisfied its burden, but the juror has helped them get over the hump," Landsman explained. "My thought is that we're trying to get it right, and these people are entitled to ask those questions that help them get it right - if it's a reasonable question within the appropriate rules of evidence." 

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"Lawyers have a notion about how the case should be presented," Landsman said. "When jurors start going off on their own mission, they may start to turn off to the story the lawyers are telling in favor of one they want to create. I think the answer is that jurors have to be properly instructed that they are not investigators; they have to be patient and listen."

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