There have over the years been many high profile court cases, and at times I am amazed at how stupid the jury group is. Many higher educated people in the jury pool cannot serve because of work, etc. So there ends up many times, (not always) a group of jurors that are unemployed, uneducated, etc. Again, not always, but many times.
Now our constitution allows for a jury by your peers. Is this actually what is happening? I agree that should be the case, but there are many trials where the defendent gets off because of some idiots on the jury.
What do you think of a permanent jury system. You could take a group of people from all walks of life, and pay them to be a juror. Maybe have a certain level of schooling needed, or maybe have a wide variety of careers before they came to do this. Perhaps they could even be paid whatever they made in their career. But this would be their job.
Even more realistic perhaps, would be making it easier for those who could not normally serve due to finances. Maybe they get paid for their week or two of service with whatever they normally make. Make rules that they not lose their job when they got back.
Just seems like something has got to be done.
I know that cases like OJ were extreme, but several times over the last couple of years I have paid special attention to trials on tv or radio, listening in on the actual trial at times, and the evidence is so overwhelming, but they still take forever to come up with a verdict.
What do you all think?