The Jury In America

This book explores why juries have declined in power and how the federal government and the states have taken the jury's authority.

This magisterial book explores fascinating cases from American history to show how juries remain the heart of our system of criminal justice - and an essential element of our democracy. No other institution of government rivals the jury in placing power so directly in the hands of citizens. Jeffrey Abramson draws upon his own background as both a lawyer and a political theorist to capture the full democratic drama that is the jury. We, the Jury is a rare work of scholarship that brings the history of the jury alive and shows the origins of many of today's dilemmas surrounding juries and justice.

This monumental and comprehensive volume reviews more than 50 years of empirical research on civil and criminal juries and returns a verdict that strongly supports the jury system.

... The purpose of this handbook is to acquaint trial jurors with the general nature and importance of their role as jurors; explains some of the language and procedures used in court, and offers some suggestions helpful to jurors in performing their duty ...

Places the idea of jury duty into perspective, noting its importance as a constitutional responsibility, and describes ways in which the experience may be enriched.

Has the jury outlived its usefulness in our increasingly complex society? Are civil juries clogging our courts with inefficiencies and burdening our economy with exorbitant awards? Should the right to trial by jury in civil cases, therefore, be curtailed? Guinther provides answers.

Confronting readers with intellectual and moral dilemmas faced by real jurors, The Jury Crisis explores the near collapse of jury trials in America, examines alternative paths to justice and proposes how to restore trial by jury as the trusted foundation of American democracy.

In this timely volume, the authors provide a penetrating analysis of the institutional mechanisms perpetuating the related problems of minorities' disenfranchisement and their underrepresentation on juries.