So what’s the reasoning behind Jury Trials vs Trials where the judge decides everything? What does a Judge do in Jury trials? Why do some countries not have jury trials and all trials are just with a judge or multiple judges?
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In jury trials, the jury is usually only given binary decisions to make (in order to make it easy and/or possible for all of them to agree). I.e. Guilty or Not Guilty .
The judge still has to make rulings during the case regarding things like, when there is an *objection* from one side’s lawyer, the judge rules on whether that objection is *sustained* or not (this is not something a jury would be qualified to do). The judge also has to rule on, for example, whether one side will or will not be allowed to present X evidence, or have X witness testify, etc.
Also, people like to misstate the jury/judge dichotomy. The fact is, **even in a jury trial, the judge has the option to rule Not Guilty and override a jury’s verdict of guilty.**
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