Monthly Archives: May 2011
The active juror – A plea for permitting juror questions
A new editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times makes a good case for letting jurors ask questions in civil trials. The piece points out that the practice often has no law forbidding it, it’s just not conventional practice. One of the … Continue reading
Reading about juries while serving on a jury
This blog is, in part, about a book, The Jury & Democracy, which we wrote to share the findings of our research on the jury experience. All along, we’d hoped the book would find its way into the hands of … Continue reading
New data on juror utilization and satisfaction
A recent article in Third Branch has happy news about the jury system in the U.S. Last year, 59,405 American citizens served on federal petit juries, with a national average of 39 percent of jurors not selected, serving, or challenged … Continue reading
New Mexico celebrates the jury
Charles Daniels, the Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, had a nice essay in the New Mexico Bar Bulletin praising the state’s jury system. He points out at one point that New Mexico: is unique in the United … Continue reading
Juries in Japan
A new article has come out in the Illinois Law Review that provides a more comprehensive look at the Japanese jury system, which is still relatively new. The new Japanese “saiban-in” or “lay assessor” system has many interesting features: It … Continue reading
Jury and Democracy Blog 