Common is the popular complaint that a jury ‘didn’t do its job’ when an accused criminal is acquitted. However, the duty of all criminal court jurors is to judge defendants based on admissible testimony and evidence presented before them according to the criteria for reasonable doubt, not to to pass judgment to satisfy the whims of outside observers. Perhaps it can be argued that the verdict was incorrect, or even that judgment ought to be weighed by experts instead of laymen. Nevertheless the fact remains that jury members are specifically instructed to judge the veracity of the prosecution’s case, for it is only the prosecution that bears the burden of proof.
Regardless, people often seem to feel juries should be given license to deliver verdicts based on judgments beyond the facts of the cases presented before them. With regard to the Anthony trial, this was made especially by certain commentators who exclaimed that the jury should have ‘connected the dots’ concerning the supposedly suspicious nature of the accused. However, following this mentality would not only violate juries’ aforementioned mandate to limit their considerations to the facts of the case, but would also derail juries’ critical thinking in favor of speculation. In short, this call for speculative judgment goes precisely counter to what juries are lawfully charged to do.
Conviction Rates
Given the unique complexities of each state’s laws and conviction statistics, it at first appears to be a challenge to evaluate the generalization that prosecutors lose too many criminal cases. This perspective, however, falsely assumes that conviction rates are a relevant measurement of prosecutor performance in the first place. Whereas it is the duty of defense attorneys to cast as much doubt as possible upon the arguments of prosecutors, the duty of the prosecution is to bring forth evidence against the accused within the bounds of the law, not do whatever they can to ensure a conviction. The court is meant as a medium in which the jury may soundly come to a fair and legal verdict, not a circus of accusation and unregulated inquisition. To assess the adversarial system of trial on verdict outcomes alone would be disingenuous to the pursuit of justice. At best, such measurements reveal trends without explaining how they occur.
To be fair toward advocates of judicial reform, conviction rates can sometimes suggest an underlying systematic problem. Clearly, consistent rates of extremely high or low conviction do warrant some amount of inquiry. However, there seems to be little out of the ordinary in that regard in Florida, where the Casey Anthony case was tried. According to official state sources the past ten years have been relatively successful for Floridian prosecutors as the vast majority of violent crime trials resulted in either convictions or plea bargains. If anything, this fact suggests that Anthony’s acquittal wasn’t a matter of incompetent or ineffectual prosecution.
Even on the national level, the notion that prosecutors aren’t obtaining enough convictions does’nt hold up against the data. The National Center for State Courts, a non-profit judicial research center, estimates that conviction rates can be as high as 60 percent for murder cases across the country, while lesser violent offenses tend to have a higher chance of acquittal. One can hardly call this a sign of a conviction shortage, especially in light of the recent drop in crime rates in the United States.
As sensationally as political pundits may play up the acquittal of Casey Anthony, the trial should not be regarded as a symptom of a judicial breakdown. Upon level-headed consideration of the relevant information, it should be clear that criminal courts by and large suffer from no lack of convictions and perform within reasonable expectations. Furthermore, even if it is true that the criminal justice system needs reform, there is little reason to tamper with the role of juries as impartial judges of the adversarial arena. Therefore, instead of vilifying jurors, defense attorneys, and prosecutors for performing their proper duties under the law, maybe commentators should discuss better ways to report on legal proceedings and give the public a clearer understanding of our judicial process.
Related posts:
- Motivation
- Private: The Stupidity is Astounding
- Private: Wackadoos & Media Wannabees
- Gone But Not Forgotten
- NOT GUILTY!
Tags: Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Caylee Anthony case, Cheney Mason, Cindy Anthony, death penalty, Florida, forensic psychology, George Anthony, In Memorium, Jose Baez, Judge Belvin Perry, missing child, Orange County, psychology
We have the fairest system of justice in the world, you must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. People die trying to come to this country to enjoy this rare and wonderful form of justice. People don’t understand in most places you can be accused and spend years in jail by one persons accusation, no proof, just an accusation. Police can haul you away because of your political affiliation, rumor, innuendo, and you get no bond, no speedy trial and sometimes no representation. What that does mean is that if you are brought to trial here, there had better be proof of guilt or the person charged is going home. Some successful prosecution investigations take years, there is no statute of limitations in a murder case for a reason.
This is a good thing, not a bad thing because it puts the burden of proof on the state or government to bring the evidence for a conviction, changing it for any reason would be insanity. If people don’t like they way this works they need to move to a country that does things differently, it won’t be hard because most of them don’t have what we have.
As far as the Anthony case goes, it was so poorly prosecuted that I’m actually embarrassed for the people of Orlando that they have such an inept District Attorney he even let this case be put on, and the money spent on such a shoddy prosecution. The voters need to speak to by removing everyone in that office and start from scratch and pray they get better detectives, because a bucket of air wouldn’t convict anyone anywhere in this country. They just assumed, with no proof they would get a conviction. They chose to put a motive that was clearly not true as the reason, and they needed to find out what happened and they never did their job. What really happened? Juries should demand that, and the Anthony case jury did just that which is why Casey walked free. People need to blame the people who failed that little girl, you need to find out the truth of the crime before you can try someone for a crime.
They didn’t even bother with a good circumstantial case, they had nothing in terms of proof.
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You’re right Zan, the Anthony case was poorly prosecuted. Look at Zahra Baker’s case. While 18 years doesn’t seem hardly enough time for Elisa to serve for killing Zahra, that prosecution knew they had no evidence to convict Elisa for a higher crime with out Elisa pleading and giving up where the body was. They did it right. The Florida prosecutor spent 3 years gathering no conclusive evidence and went for the death penalty and got nothing. Had they focused on getting justice for Caylee as it is often screamed for, they may have got it. Even if it was only a few years it would of been something which is a hell of a lot better than nothing at all.
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Well said, but sadly we are surrounded by ignorant citizens who have embraced a lynch mob mentality, it’s their way or the highway…Honestly I dont think the average American can actually grasp the concept of our legal system, hence their need to be spoonfed bullshit from the FauxNewsNetwork….Dont get me wrong, I am appalled and disgusted by the influx we are seeing of children and women being abused, but there is absolutely nothing to be gained when people think with their hearts and apply it to legal situations…Really, I think most people just like to get fired up about something, anything,and they like to create chaos, and disorder.
I also blame the media…which isnt “news” anymore, it’s Entertainment. News networks are controlled by Entertainment divisions of their respective companies, bottom line, profit profit profit..Keep NancyG screaming so all her followers will keep watching…you guys know what I mean…There is no more “journalism”, though it looks like Current may be trying, I hope they succeed…
Thanks for the vent, hahaha, it’s been awhile!! It CouldBe me, ya know??
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Casey Anthony is innocent; so get over it.
Case is closed.
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