Publisher's Synopsis
On trial in every criminal case heard by a jury is not only the defendant but the democratic premise that ordinary citizens are capable of sitting in judgment on that defendant. The jury is a quintessentially democratic institution, the lay cog in a criminal justice machine dominated by lawyers, judges and police. Today, however, the jury finds itself under attack ? on the right, for perverse verdicts and, on the left for miscarriages of justice. Justice, Democracy and the Jury is an attempt to place the jury within an historical, political and philosophical framework and to analyze the decision-making processes at work on a jury. The book also examines whether the model of the jury can be adapted to other decision-making contexts and whether ?citizens juries? can be used to revive a flagging democracy and to empower the people on issues of public concern.
