...Combination of Smaller Juries with Nonunanimous Verdicts At one point the state jurisdictions wanted to save money by using smaller juries. One state actually tried to implement this into law, but the court ruled against it. In the case of Burch v. Louisiana, the court ruled that a unanimous six-person jury was not permitted by the constitution in serious, noncapital cases (Ingram, 2009). Louisiana wished to reduce costs by having a smaller jury, but the court decided that this was an insufficient justification to use a nonunanimous six-person jury (Ingram, 2009). The reason for this decision is because the court claimed that any attempt to introduce nonunanimity in legal equation would threaten the constitutional principles (Ingram, 2009). In conclusion the court refused to move away from twelve person juries. Removal of Prospective Jurors: Proper...
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...research refers to how well a study has been carried out and can therefore expand scientific knowledge as well as apply to the wider population. In this case, research into persuading a jury is able to provide us with explanations as to how or why jurors sometimes react in a certain way when presented with different scenarios in the trials. A strength of this type of research is that it presents useful evidence which aids the government with ideas as to how to manipulate the trials so that both sides get a fair trial. For example in the study of Loftus into expert testimony it was found that if it was used in a trial, it was likely to arise more doubts about the defendant’s guilt for the jurors, so Loftus stated that if both sides use an expert it may lead to a battle of experts and as a result jurors may be confounded even more. It can therefore be seen how expert testimony should not be used often and by both sides, something which potentially trials can put into practice. Another strength of this type of research is that it’s generally quite cheap to carry out, as it usually uses self-reports to obtain results, so many can be carried out and thus vast amounts of data can be collected. This means we can apply these results to the area that we are investigating, in this case persuading a jury. On the other hand, all of the research that has been carried out into persuading a jury has been based on mock trials. For example in the Pennington & Hastie study 130 students listened to...
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...Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice Brent Weaver Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice, CJA/423 Torria Richardson 5-30-11 Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice Society has shown racial diversity among communities. Racial disparity can be found in the criminal justice system. A system designed to be fair and equal to individuals is not existent. Racial diversity can be found at the time of arrest to the time of sentencing. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the diversity in sentencing. Case studies will be discussed throughout this paper. Leaders of criminal justice are not exempt of racial diversity. Racial diversity has changed over the years, but racial diversity remains strong in sentencing minorities. Diversity is not biased of offenses. Racial diversity can be seen in the smallest of charges, such as a traffic stop to the most serious sentence of the death penalty. Most of the sentences are because profiling an individual of minority. African Americans are likely to be the targeted racial group. Hispanic individuals are likely to be another racial group profiled for harsher sentencing. Racial disparity in the criminal justice system should always be considered a violation of ideas of the forefather’s of this nation as equal treatment under the laws of the United States Constitution. Many reasons for racial disparity can be identified in the sentencing process. The sentencing process is a difficult process, and adding racial bias may create a...
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...Race-based jury nullification is a practice that has been around for many years and occurs when jurors oppose to the law and refuse to convict a defendant despite significant proof that the individual is guilty. The 14th amendment guarantees all persons no matter race or sex are allowed due process and equal protection from the law. This paper will provide detailed information about whether ethnicity influences courtroom proceedings and judicial practices, there will be arguments for and against ethnicity-based jury nullification, contemporary examples of ethnicity-based jury nullification and it will conclude by choosing a position for or against ethnicity-based jury nullification. We have seen many examples of suspected jury nullification through the “Bronx Juries”. “This term originally described a jury consisting mostly of minorities in the Bronx, New York that refuses to convict minority defendants. Today, “Bronx juries” are not limited to the Bronx but extend to other cities with large minority populations, such as Baltimore, Maryland” (Keneally, 2010, pg. 946). Race should never be a deciding factor during jury deliberation. Jurors should follow the full extent of the law, and should not put their personal beliefs before there civic duty as a juror. When trying to decide whether or not ethnicity influences court room proceedings and judicial practices, the information was unable to provide definitive proof one way or the other. Some of the research that was found was...
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...The American Realist movement grew during the 1930s from the philosophical views associated with James and Dewey. Both rejected ‘closed systems, pretended absolutes and origins’ and turned towards ‘facts, actions and powers’. The realists studied law on the basis of rejection of ‘myths and preconceived notions’ and on the acceptance of recording accurately things as they are, as contrasted with things as they ought to be. A true science of law demands a study of law in action. ‘Law is as law does’. According to the realists, law consists of a body of generalisations about the conduct of judges or officials. For example Cook treats rules as descriptions of past decisions. He states: “This past behaviour of the judges can be described in terms of certain generalisations which we call rules and principles of law”. Law is, according to the realists jurists, what officials (judges) do; it is not to be found in, and cannot be deduced from, the mere rules by which those officials are guided. An investigation of the unique elements of cases, an awareness of irrational and non-logical factors in judicial decision-making, an assessment of rules of law by an evaluation of their practical consequences- these are some of the characteristics of the realist approach. The main concern of the realist movement was the desire to discover how judicial decisions were reached in reality, which involved a playing down of the role of established rules, or the ‘law in books’, to discover other factors...
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...King's peace (pg 31-32) Witan (pg 8) Doom ( pg 10) Doomsday book (pg 42-43) ritualized expression of jurisdictional theory; used to invoke royal court jurisdiction. encapsulated a long historical development. in early German history there was virtually no public law of crime. Victims or kin would retaliate for wrongs against them. Anglo saxon kings promoted measures to substitute money payments in restitution. Concept of the king's peace enabled monarchs to develop what amounted to a public law as a wrong against the king. From Germanic law - notion of man's "peace" surrounded his person & home. to disturb either was offense that justified him in repelling the breach. King as a semi-sacred figured - anyone who attacked him was guilty of a more serious crime. As the King's power grew, his peace was extended to religious shrines & people. By extending his peace, king brought them protection - attacking them was like attacking the king. By Norman times, the king's peace had expanded to royal officers & to highways over which the king traveled. Over time, it was projected over his entire realm. It was generalized into a jurisdictional principle - that jurisdiction over serious crime belonged to the king's courts. Criminal manners became know as placita coronae = pleas of the crown. That jurisdiction had a monopoly over jurisdiction for major crime. The remainder, lesser issues were punished in the hundred courts & in the manors of the towns. (pg 31-32) The king consulted...
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...Chapter: 01(Managing and the Manager’s Job) Page#26 Jumpin’ Jack Flash Jack Armstrong doesn’t have the cutest little baby face, but he has other qualifications for getting ahead despite the fact that he’s still relatively young. He’s smart and creative, and he combines a high‑energy approach to getting things done with aggressive marketing instincts. He’s just 36 now, but Jack can already boast a wealth of management experience, largely because he’s been quite adept at moving around in order to move up. He started out in sales for a technology company, outsold his colleagues by wide margins for two years, and was promoted to regional sales director. After a year, he began angling for a position as marketing manager, but when the job went to a senior sales director, Jack left for a job as a marketing manager with a company specializing in travel products. Though a little impatient with the tedious process of sifting through market‑research data, he devoted his considerable energy and creativity to planning new products. His very first pet project— a super‑lightweight compact folding chair—outstripped all sales projections and provided just the impetus he needed to ask for a promotion to vice president of marketing. When the company took too much time to make a decision, Jack moved on again, having found a suitable vice presidency at a consumer‑products firm. Here, his ability to spot promising items in the company’s new‑product pipeline— notably a...
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...in, and was charge with the rape and murder of Sykes even though there was no physical evidence linking him to this case. His charges were based on the 911 phone call, and an ID made by a previous Klan member Thomas Murphy. During this time Hunt met a man named Larry Little. Mr. Little started independently investigating Darryl’s case because he felt there was no way Darryl could commit this brutal crime. After talking to people in the neighborhood Larry soon learned that Johnny Gray was known as a shady and unreliable source. Little brought this to the attention of defense attorneys Mark Rabil and Larry Gordon. The defense argued their case to the court, but it did not help. On August 10, 1984 Darryl Hunt was convicted by an all-white jury and sentence to life in prison. In 1990 six years later, the court gave Darryl a new trial based on new evidence. Hunt was released on $50,000 bond, and represented by a new defense James Ferguson. Prosecutors Dean Bowman and Jimmy Yates offered a plea bargain to...
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...1. Getting started It is a matter of some interest that logic and the law should share so many of their foundational concepts – concepts such as proof, evidence, truth, inference, probability, plausibility, presumption and reasonableness – and yet should have had very little to say to one another within living memory. It is not especially surprising that logic and the law should have suffered (I use the word in its Latin sense) this alienation. With regard to its foundational concepts – for example, the concept of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the concept of the balance of probabilities, the concept of the reasonable person – the law embeds am implied epistemology of implicity. There exists among practitioners, especially judges, the view that definitions and formalizations of such notions are both unnecessary and is liable to conceptual distortion. But definitions and formalizations are mother’s milk to logicians. Where the law favours approximation and contextually sensitive nuance, logicians thrive on exactitude and rigour. So why wouldn’t the lawyers and logicians go about their business without the regard of the one for the other? It would be wrong to leave the impression that there is no analytical exactitude in the law. It would also be a mistake to suggest that there has been no contact with the formal disciplines. Trials are often complex and judgements often embed exhaustive and detailed analyses of relevant points of law. In recent years probability theorists have...
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...Manuel Paniagua Correa 12 Angry Men The communication process depicted on the movie was certainly effective. The 12 jurors’ decision involved the life of a young man. Even when the communication barriers sometimes froze the process of communication, the persistence of one of the jurors, juror 8, was key in keeping the men involved in the decision process. Juror 8 was unlike the other jurors, he had the ability to keep the men engaged in the discussion that lead to the conclusion of the movie. Even though it was not easy, the main objective of providing a fair and unanimous decision was accomplished at the end of the film. During the jury decision process, communication barriers were present. All of the members that were involved in the jury had different backgrounds and culture. Many of the juries expressed anger, frustration and stubbornness regarding their respective positions. These jurors frequently interrupted one another and proved to be very disrespectful within the group. Communication barriers where present when they did not pay attention to each other. These barriers were evident when the jurors were centered only on their personal opinions and not willing to listen to their peers. Formal communication started when juror number 8 stated his disagreement and concern for the boy’s future. When juror #8 started expressing he’s uncertainty with the boy being guilty, he encouraged the other jurors or team members to critically think before passing judgment...
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...Certificate of Education 2014 SUPERVISOR TO ATTACH PROCESSING LABEL HERE Letter STUDENT NUMBER LEGAL STUDIES Written examination Tuesday 11 November 2014 Reading time: 3.00 pm to 3.15 pm (15 minutes) Writing time: 3.15 pm to 5.15 pm (2 hours) QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK Structure of book Number of questions Number of questions to be answered 13 13 Number of marks 70 • Students are permitted to bring into the examination room: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners and rulers. • Students are NOT permitted to bring into the examination room: blank sheets of paper and/or white out liquid/tape. • No calculator is allowed in this examination. Materials supplied • Question and answer book of 18 pages. • Additional space is available at the end of the book if you need extra paper to complete an answer. Instructions • Write your student number in the space provided above on this page. • You should make use of stimulus material where it is included. However, it is not intended that this material will provide you with all the information to fully answer the question. • All written responses must be in English. Students are NOT permitted to bring mobile phones and/or any other unauthorised electronic devices into the examination room. © VICTORIAN CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY 2014 2014 LEGAL STUDIES EXAM 2 Instructions Answer all questions in the spaces provided. Question 1 (2 marks) Outline one effect...
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...In 1984, Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted of the rape and murder of a nine year old girl by a jury of his peers, an outcome which relied heavily on accounts given by five eyewitnesses (Bloodsworth v. State, 1986). At first, Bloodsworth was sentenced to execution via gas chamber but DNA evidence proved him to be innocent. As a result, many countries and states within the United States are attempting to make changes in how eyewitness testimony is evaluated in court (Connors, 1996). Eyewitness testimony is an account of what that person allegedly observed during an incident under investigation to a jury and this account is used as evidence to show what happened from a witness' perspective. Preferably, this recollection of events should be detailed...
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...L The law today The law today Lay people, what’s the point? Lay people, what’s the point? ay people are the public citizens that participate in court. These would be the jurors and the magistrates. A study conducted in 2000-2001 saw that the public view magistrates as a great example of a citizen’s active involvement in the legal system. But what exactly do they do? Are they still a valid contribution in today’s law? We might as well burn our money on the spot We might as well burn our money on the spot The magistrate’s bench The magistrate’s bench Lay magistrates are unpaid volunteers that sit in on the court proceedings at the top of the court, with one expert magistrate, they listen to the court proceeding. When the court proceedings are finished the jury come up with the verdict, if the verdict is guilty then the magistrates come up with the punishment. If we took the lay magistrates and replaced them with judges it would cost about £100 million, and where would this money come from? That’s right, you, the taxpayer. Do we seriously want any more of the taxpayers’ money be wasted unnecessarily? It is cheaper to hold a magistrate’s court with lay magistrates is cheaper than crown court and more efficient as it gets though cases quicker. The magistrates are also more available then the judges. The idea that people on trial will be judged by their peers is reassuring to the person(s) on trial and the public because the peer judging represents them and knows what...
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...It's no secret that the American legal system is broken. Many defendants are convicted with little evidence. A case study from 1968 was Johnson v. Wilmoth in VA. This was an “automobile accident case where defendant was blinded by oncoming headlights. Virginia does not follow strict liability rule for temporary impairment of vision by glaring lights that requires motorists to stop or proceed at peril”. Each year, 15 million civil cases are filed in the U.S. In Virginia a woman named Irene Banks Johnson (plaintiff) filed a motion for judgment against a woman named Racheal Wilmoth (defendant) seeking to recover damages for personal injuries allegedly sustained by the plaintiff when she was struck, while a pedestrian, by an automobile operated by the defendant. The defendant filed grounds of defense denying negligence on her part and alleging that the plaintiff's own negligence caused or contributed to the injuries...
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...Racial Diversity in Jury Selection Barbara Sigler Unit 3 American Intercontinental University Abstract The selection process of juries was designed to select citizens that were equal peers of the person involved in the trial. However, many disparities exist and the selection process at times seems to be disproportionate relating to race or ethnicity. Reform of the legislature would benefit those that are not being properly served. It is the right of every citizen in this nation to have his or her case decided by a fair and impartial jury. The selection of the jury panel is one of great importance and one that can have a great effect on the outcome of the case. Therefore, it is obvious that the attorneys have a great interest in manipulating the jury selection to include who they may feel would return a favorable verdict for their client. Attorneys generally favor potential jurors that share certain characteristics to include race or gender with their client. The attorneys feel that there is increased empathy when these similarities exist, possibly resulting in a favorable verdict (Frank, 2011). According to a case study of two separate counties, it is obvious that demographics did not play a role in the jury selection process. County A had a population of approximately sixteen thousand with one fourth of the population being African American. Yet only ten to fifteen percent was black. In addition, in the past years not one single black has...
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