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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Jury As Constitutional Identity, Andrew Ferguson
The Jury As Constitutional Identity, Andrew Ferguson
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
This article seeks to reframe how citizens see jury service in America.Juries once existed at the core of American constitutional identity. At the founding of the country, jury service and voting were twin political rights, equal in stature and importance. Some founders even considered the jury more important than the right to vote as a means to ensure a robust democratic system. During the battles for racial equality (before and after the Reconstruction Amendments) and gender equality (before and after the Nineteenth Amendment), advocates explicitly linked demands for voting and jury service as symbols of political equality. Americans fought, protested, …
Jury Instructions As Constitutional Education, Andrew Ferguson
Jury Instructions As Constitutional Education, Andrew Ferguson
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
Juries are central to the constitutional structure of America. This article articulates a theory of the jury as a “constitutional teaching moment,” establishing a historical and theoretical basis for reclaiming the educative value of jury service. Its proposal is straightforward and easy to implement – use jury instructions to educate jurors about the Constitution.This article addresses the fundamental question of why, despite an unquestioned acceptance of a constitutional role of the jury, our criminal justice system does not explain this role to jurors on jury duty. The article seeks to answer the question of how we can educate jurors about …