淺議美國(guó)陪審員制度

Abstract ： Focusing on the role of the Jury System. The Jury System refers to a kind of important judicial and trial system， which the ordinary citizen is allowed to participate in the judgment of cases， and to exercise judicial power with the professional judge together this ancient legal system comes into two different forms under the influences of varies legal and culture principals in different times and different countries. It is argued that the jury system has its advantages and drawbacks.

Key words ： the Jury System advantages drawbacks

1.Introduction

As the result of the development of the ancient assess or system，jury system is also the most important part in the modern system.The main value of the jury system is to protect judicial justice，whose essential is an advanced intension of generaI autonomy in procedure Although it has some weaknesses in eluding wasting time and low-efficiency，even has more biases .

The American jury consists of a group of ordinary citizen according to facts and evidences presented to them.Trial with the jury is the keystone of theAmerican court system，the study of which is of significance for improving the jury system

In the United States an accused is entitled to a trial by jury whenever the case is originally brought into federal court and involves an offense for which the punishment may exceed six months imprisonment and in which the defendant is prosecuted as an adult.The jury system originated in England in the Middle Age， magrated to the New World with the first England settlers. And it was elevated to Constitutional stature in two amendments to the Constitution of the United States after the revolution. A grand jury is a group of citizens， usually chosen from the same pool as trial jurors， that is sworn in by a court to hear a case. The grand jury is composed of not less than 12 and not more than 23 persons； and in the Federal courts， the number shall not be less than 16 nor more than 23.

2.Drawbacks

As you know，most members of the jury are ordinary people，such as teachers， doctors，cookers and so on，and it's sure that they do not have the legal expertise.That means they will make a decision by their hearts rather than their intellects.And they may miss the truth.

On the other hands，if the Government cannot protect the jury well ， the situation that the jury is being bought off or being threatened will be frequently happen. This will enable the upper social strata to have a good umbrella.And in some states where the number of white people is larger than black people， it will be unfavourable for the black people and it will be unfair in some ways.

3.The advantages of importing the jury system

First of all， the jury system will increase the independence of the Chinese judicial system The best way to prevent abuse of power is to separate the power； the best way to prevent corruption is to give power to more people.

Second， the jurors represent the public， which can prevent the public from suspecting that the decision of the case is related to a judge's personal preference. This system will decrease the suspicion of the public that there are any \"dirty deals\" behind it

Next， the jury system can educate the public. they can gain the legal knowledge through being a juror. This will also change their traditional view.

Conclusion：

As is known to all， there is no perfect system in the world. It is the same with the jury system. We can imagine that even with an appropriate verdict from the jury， a corrupt judge can change it to an inequitable judgment

However， when we compare doing nothing to pushing for reform， importing the jury system has more significant advantages. However， the jury system will increase the transparency of the trial， and the public will not as often doubt the legality of the judgment.

Regarding the current circumstances in China， two kinds of methods emerge： The first one is \"from the top to the bottom\"， which means persuading these high level political officers to push this reform. The key to this method is to find a person who has both outstanding political bargaining skills and advanced legal wisdom so that he or she can initiate this tough task。 Another method is \"from the bottom to the top\"， The key to this method is to find a person use Proposal right。

The purpose of legal system is just to make things clear and make most people feel satisfied.But everything has two different aspects.However，the Jury System makes most of Americans feel protective.Actually，the American Legal System wants to protect the rights of individuals.Thus，it may do harm to the big groups.But those big groups can endure the little loss.That's why the American Legal System thinks the rights of individuals are much important than those big groups.Though，there are a variety of drawbacks in the Jury System.Most importantly，the grand jury stands for the thoughts of most citiziens，and their decisions will contribute to the final result that most of us want to see.But the premise is that they have know the truth of the things before make a decision.And the truth should be found by lawyers and some else.

References

[1] Liu Lijun.Study on the Jury System.Hunan：Xiangtan University of Foreign Language Education Press，2008.

[2] Gao Shan. Research on the Jury System.

Suzhou：Suzhou University of Foreign Language Education Press，2007.

[3] A.Arato and P.Breines.The young Lukacs

and the Origins of Western Marxism.Seabury Press，1979.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：王海鷹，青島大學(xué)法學(xué)院 訴訟法學(xué) 研究方向：民事訴訟法。

（作者單位：青島大學(xué)法學(xué)院）