The ridiculously brilliant and impossible American civil jury system
“You should not surrender your honest convictions about the value or significance of evidence solely because of the opinions of your fellow jurors. Nor should you change your mind just for the purpose of obtaining enough votes for a verdict…As jurors, you are officers of this court. You must not let your emotions overcome your rational thought process. You must reach your decision based on the facts provided to you and on the law given to you, not on sympathy, prejudice, or personal preference.” -- Instructions to King County jurors in a civil case, 2020. What do I think On the surface, the American jury seems, frankly, absurd. Why should a random group of citizens—without specialized knowledge of law or the specific field at hand—be tasked with deciding someone’s fate in a court of law? What could a jury of laypeople know about the nuances of the legal system and the technicalities of cases involving medicine, education, environmental policy, or other complex areas? How can they...