| Officer Makes His Case For Professional Juries |
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Most people have no concept of "street time" – the speed at which things happen on the street and the way officers train themselves to observe a multitude of details in a very short amount of time. If you are telling a "story" to a friend or relative, this has no real impact. However, when we attempt to explain things to a jury, they do not understand how it is humanly possible to be 100 percent sure of a fact or observation when it happened in a matter of seconds. I think of it like this – I have no understanding of higher mathematics. If someone tried to explain the most simple algorithm or formula and then tried to convince me that it was true, I would balk every time. I would think to myself, "there is no way they can possibly know that" or "this person is crazy." If people like me were approached at the dawn of the computer age or consulted to make a decision about space exploration in the 1960s, we would still be in the Stone Age. Juries in this country are doing the same thing. They are being asked to render a decision, often of the utmost importance, about which they have little or no knowledge. None of us would hand our beloved dog or cat over to twelve "peers" and ask them to perform surgery by whatever formula they come up with as a group. Why do we continue to allow more important decisions to be handled and decided by those who are ignorant of the subject matter? In addition, most of them don't want to be there. Look into a jury box and you will be met with blank stares. Will Rogers said, "Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." I think it's time we let the people with real world experience be the ones who make decisions regarding the fate of our fellow human beings when it comes to jury trials. This would result in a better quality of both convictions and acquittals. We should also be able to remove those people whose expertise is limited. For example, if someone does not understand injury claims, they should not decide injury cases. If someone has no law enforcement experience, then they should not be deciding criminal cases. It's that simple. I grow weary of watching good cases get mishandled by incompetent juries. Until we make some changes to the system of jury trials, the innocent will continue to be convicted and the guilty will continue to go free. We in law enforcement make a difference on the streets only so far as that justice is upheld by a jury in court. Right now, these juries are not carrying their weight. Steven D. Hanks is a police officer in the Hamilton, Ohio Police Department. He's currently assigned to the Vice Section. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          |
