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Petal Alderin Profile
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Registered: 01-2008
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Judge or Jury?


In your opinion is it preferable to have a Judge and his/her assessors decide the outcome of serious charges, or a Jury of 12 strangers choose innocence or guilt in a high court of law? emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon

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Sep/12/2014, 12:38 Link to this post Send PM to Petal Alderin
 
Morwen Oronor Profile
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Not jury. In the Oscar trial, a jury of the people who are his "peers" wouldn't have gone through the evidence with the amount of analysis that the judge did. I don't trust even highly qualified people to prepare a plate of food for me, I'm definitely not going to let 12 morons who don't know what they're doing decide life or death over me.
Sep/12/2014, 16:39 Link to this post Send PM to Morwen Oronor
 
Kaunisto Profile
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Re: Judge or Jury?


I'm not quite sure of all systems used here - with 3 levels of courts and possibly some exceptions - but at least some trials have had 3 judges/assessors and 2 layman jurors. That sounds reasonable, jurors having power only when experts don't agree (and even then only if they do agree).

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Sep/12/2014, 17:21 Link to this post Send PM to Kaunisto
 
Petal Alderin Profile
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I think a Judge is preferable. Jurors are ordinary laymen with no broad knowledge of the law and its technicalities. I've never heard of anybody who is delighted and excited to be called for Jury duty - and they're susceptible to various outside influences no matter how often they're told not to read the papers, watch TV, or discuss the case - that in itself is impractical for human beings these days. Also they can be emotional, or biased in some way, which would perhaps lead to an unfair verdict. The OJ Simpson case is in my mind a great example of a Jury getting it wrong. They were holed up in a hotel for weeks, away from their families, cut off from their normal lives ... it has to make a difference to their thinking, surely?

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Sep/13/2014, 8:32 Link to this post Send PM to Petal Alderin
 
Morwen Oronor Profile
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I think that definitely with the exposure that we all have to all the news today, it's difficult to be objective, even as a highly professional judge, let alone as a layperson who doesn't know the law. Everyone comes to a discussion with their own bias already, to expect the ordinary person who doesn't understand the concept of objectivity for a start, is difficult enough, add to that the perfectly human desire to be in the know, and to form an opinion before having all the facts, I think it's difficult for a jury member to be able to form a proper judgment. I like our system where the judge has to explain how they came to their judgment and that even that judgment is allowed to be appealed.
Sep/13/2014, 10:36 Link to this post Send PM to Morwen Oronor
 
Petal Alderin Profile
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I agree. The law is extremely complicated and should be left to those who have spent years and years studying it in order to become qualified to make life changing decisions.

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Sep/13/2014, 11:31 Link to this post Send PM to Petal Alderin
 
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Well, when I see idiots like Donald Trump calling our judge a "moron" then I'm really pleased that we don't allow idiots who don't even know how to fix their hair to judge our cases.
Sep/13/2014, 15:36 Link to this post Send PM to Morwen Oronor
 
Petal Alderin Profile
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Re: Judge or Jury?


 emoticon

That's just dreadful, and surely a case for defamation of character? What happens in our judicial system has blow all to do with Donald Trump-eter.

Practically everyone seems to have become an armchair legal expert since the OP trial. All the opinions being expressed are very subjective of course .... whereas the judge, like it or not, had to uphold the law and ensure that justice is not only done, but seen to be done. And that is exactly what she did.

And as for all those bleating about rich white people with fancy houses and lots of money getting off - nobody has considered that the judge is a very intelligent, softly spoken and serene black woman. I get furious when everything that happens in this country is reduced to a matter of race. Time we all moved beyond that ...

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Sep/13/2014, 17:16 Link to this post Send PM to Petal Alderin
 
Morwen Oronor Profile
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Chief of Staff

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Re:


Indeed.
Sep/14/2014, 9:53 Link to this post Send PM to Morwen Oronor
 


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