Impressions from the Grand Jury room

[emeraldsedai]

Wow. That was...really dull.

Almost exactly a year ago, someone climbed in through my kitchen window during the workday and stole some stuff. The police came, got a good solid handprint off the kitchen windowsill, and eventually made an arrest

Comments

[emeraldsedai]

Oh, there was. I didn't mention it because it flew by so fast. There were six citizens in a tiny room, and I took an oath and sat in an ugly bright-blue office chair in front of them. They took notes while the District Attorney asked the four or five questions.

I think their job is to serve for a week or two, hear these kinds of testimony, and make some decisions about whether a crime was committed and a person needs to be tried for it. Comparing notes with a few others who have been in my situation, I find that the questions are very similar, and attempt to establish that the witness has actually been the victim of a crime.

It seems to be a sort of intermediate filter between the police work and the criminal trial.

[emeraldsedai]

Oh, thank you for that explanation. I watched one episode of "Law and Order UK" and heard the narrator talk about the Crown court, but your explanation is much better.

One thing the two systems do seem to have in common is that the jury (the un-Grand one) consists of twelve people--and the fact that trial by jury is the standard.

[emeraldsedai]

I agree that juries are the last bastion of actual justice, even though I know that in big, important trials, jury selection can be gamed a little by the lawyers.

And yes, I will have to be a witness at the trial. Not sure how I feel about that.

I'm struck by your statement that burglary wouldn't be considered petty. Of course, it shouldn't be, but it has felt like it to me. It makes me wonder how inured I (and perhaps all Americans?) have become to crime. "I didn't even bother reporting it" is a pretty standard attitude about smaller property crimes.

[emeraldsedai]

so burglary is much more serious than, say, stealing a car, even if the car is worth more than any property taken from the house.

That makes so much sense and is so "civilized" if I can apply such a term. I think here it's all about monetary value of property stolen, so that "grand theft auto" trumps burglary--though breaking and entering to DO the burglary is a pretty serious thing.

I suppose I'll be learning more in a few weeks--more than I ever wanted to know, really, but it's somehow heartening that the justice system still trundles along in its slow and conscientious fashion.