Issues on Jury Representation

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits every state from denying to whatsoever person within its jurisdiction the compare protective cover of the laws. The gibe protection clause more(prenominal) than any other aspect of the Constitution has been used to attempt to piddle representativeness on American juries. Within the context of the equal protection clause, however, it is one(a) thing to hold that equal protection is denied by systematically excluding specific elements of the population from sitting on a jury or juries. It is quite another thing, however, to claim that equal protection is denied because some specific element of the population is not assured representation on a specific jury. Yet, such(prenominal) claims are being made in the linked States with increase frequency (Friedman, 1992, pp. 920-954).

A fair question to pose is one that concerns the reason for the increased interest in jury representation. A major underlying cause is likely the litigation fit in the United States. With an increasing proportion of the population attempting to counterbalance their differences in court, assuring the existence of sympathetic juries is often a primary objective of attorneys (Boybjerg, 1991, pp. 5-42).

In the past, common law tradition in the United States viewed a lawsuit as an evil--at best, a necessary evil. In the

elite theory holds that an elite is comprised of a relatively few commonwealth within a society who have and influence baron within that accessible system. By contrast, the masses are the many people who cannot wield power within a social system. Power, in this context, represents the prerogative to make the decisions as to who gets what, when, and how. Thus, societal elites get into in the decisions that shape the lives of all persons within a society, spot the masses are those persons whose lives are shaped by institutions, events, and leading over which they, the masses, are able to exercise little, if any, direct control. tied(p) in a democracy, a few exercise a relatively great weight of power, while the many exercise hardly any at all.

When view in this context, cross-section(a) jury representation appears to be a much more urgent goal within an elite-pluralist society.

What began in many ways as a means of providing access to the American effectual system for the powerless and the poor, however, soon became a movement stress monetary awards, as opposed to the rectification of injustice (Epstein and Rowland, 1991, pp. 205-217). With broad(prenominal) stakes monetary wards at stake, jury selection fabricated increasing significance. This shift was given added impetus as lawyers themselves chipped outside(a) at the controls that had traditionally governed the practice of law in the United States. One control that fell was the geographic barrier. Prior to the transformation, a de facto citizen right was that he or she could only be sued in the courts and under the law of the place where a contested motion occurred. After the transformation, citizens could be sued in virtually any venue, and lawyers of like a shot almost routinely shop around for receptive judges.

some other important question affecting the issue of representativeness on juries concerns the determination of the jury system in the nation's political structure. Much of what is referred to as early
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