What are the pros and cons of a jury system?

The role
of juries in the criminal justice system is to reach verdicts based upon the facts presented to
them by prosecutors and defense lawyers. As juries are determining issues of fact, rather than
law, then it would seem perfectly natural to allow laypeople to decide whether or not a criminal
defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Legal matters are decided by judges; matters of
fact by laypeople. This is a simple, straightforward division of labor between law and fact
which the jury system perfectly reflects.

As decisions in criminal trials are
arrived at by ordinary members of the public, their verdicts are more likely to be accepted by
society as a whole. If jurors weren't laypeople but jurists (legal experts), then the criminal
justice system would be seen by many as being too distant from the general public and too far
from the vast majority of the population. Under these circumstances, the administration of
justice would be an elite pursuit, one divorced from any deep roots in society. The reputation
of justice would then, in all likelihood, be significantly diminished, being seen as little more
than the expression of a narrow class interest.

That said, there are
drawbacks to the jury system. For one thing, juries tend not to be as representative of society
as its defenders would have us believe. One of the main sources of unfairness in the American
criminal justice system is the unconscious bias of white juries in relation to minority
defendants.

Nor is the process of jury selection anywhere near as random as
we might think. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys frequently remove jurors to get a jury
composition that will strengthen their case.

As jurors aren't legal experts,
they can often be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information presented to them, leading in
many cases to lengthy, drawn-out trials. Not all jurors take their responsibility seriously. If
their lives are disrupted for any appreciable length of time, then it's only natural that
they'll want to return back to normal life as soon as possible. Under these conditions, the
chance of a rushed verdict increases substantially and with it the very real danger of
injustice. 

href="https://apecsec.org/pros-and-cons-of-the-jury-system/">https://apecsec.org/pros-and-cons-of-the-jury-system/