I have spent my entire career close to the courts. Let me state that the American judicial system while not above reproach is at least more transparent than most. As a general statement officers of the court are more interested in winning at all costs than the truth; albeit by its nature the truth is generally revealed. The selection of jury is obviously based on improving one's outcome. It would be better if the objective was to sit 6-9-12 people on a jury who had the skills and experience to better assess some of the complex issues in a case.
Most lawyers are good capable people. some on the other hand have the morals of an alley cat and would do anything to win a case especially if there is money on the table.
It was an eye opener to see those lawyers who pushed for television advertising, etc and those lawyers that fought against it as being demeaning to their profession.
The OJ Simpson case and Casey Anthony case underscore the problems associated with jury selection and the mistake being made to televise these trials. They are become nothing more than entertainment making people apathetic toward damage done to victims and their families
In all the years in dealing with lawsuits I found while facts were logically laid out that truth didn't matter as a jury would be swayed by emotion rather than fact. What we need are more Joe Friday's on juries...just the fact please just the facts. What we need are more jury members who better understand our judicial system. However far too many people are so far removed from critical needed information because they are no longer taught civics, etc but are taught cultural diversity courses, etc that given them insight into rights but fail to teach that the rule of law is how those rights are protected.
|