Jury cases becoming few and far between | Salt Lake Tribune

[Ediacara]

Jury cases becoming few and far between


Prospective jurors are sworn in Friday by
a judge before they introduce themselves
to the court officers in Salt Lake City.
(Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune)

By Elizabeth Neff
The Salt Lake Tribune

For most Americans, a chance to serve on a jury will be the closest they get to taking part in the justice system.

Yet on this Law Day, one of the cornerstones of American justice -- having disputes decided by a jury of your peers -- may be at risk of becoming a rarity. Jury trials have been on the decline in many states in the decades since Congress designated May 1 as a day to celebrate the democratic rule of law.

The National Center for State Courts in a 2003 report pointed to decreasing numbers of jury trials being used to decide both civil and criminal cases. Examining 10 states between 1993 and 2002, the report found the number of civil jury trial numbers had declined at rates between 35 and 75 percent. In 13 states, felony jury trial rates between 1976 and 2002 saw drops as large as 78 percent.

More at the Salt Lake Tribune

[teryang]

1. this article cites a serious problem

...and then goes on to discuss at length an irrelevant phenomenon, whether jurors want to serve or are inconvenienced thereby.

Jurors are subject to compulsory process. Their experiences do not affect the number of jury trials. What affects the number of jury trials is the increasing expense of bringing trial and attempts to limit access to the courts.

Public defenders are deliberately underfunded compared to the prosecution. The costs of civil trial are extraordinary and used by wealthier usually corporate parties to stonewall and wear down their adversaries. All but the best financed plaintiff's trial lawyers succumb.

Class Actions have been a response to the excessive costs of civil trial and level the playing field for ordinary plaintiffs against huge corporations with an incredible financial advantage. Unfortunately this usually comes at the cost of plaintiff interests. Conservative judges and legislatures are trying to curtail this remedy as well as general damages and punitive damages for plaintiffs at individual trials. Caps and limitations on damages will eventually end the petite jury as institution in civil trial.

Another factor openly discussed among the plaintiff's bar is that the corporate media's relentless propaganda concerning juries and so called runaway verdicts has irrevocably tainted most of the people in jury pools. It's almost impossible to get a fair and impartial jury where I live in a civil case. Criminal jury pools aren't propagandized because white collar corporate thieves never know when they'll be in the docket.