I’ve always been confused by this.
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Why would you want a bunch of randoms to decide your fate, and not the actual judge with a law degree and years of experience?
Why do those people have more power than the judge? They can decide anything they want and the judge is basically just the guy who signs and does the paperwork.
In: 2634
The judge is not just someone who signs and does paperwork, they’re more of the referee. Things like what is, and isn’t allowed, what each side can and cannot use as evidence, all legal procedure is followed, etc. This has a huge impact on a case. Things like “this piece of evidence was not allowed because it was ruled that it was not properly gathered” or “that line of questioning is irrelevant and therefore cannot be used to make an argument” have a huge impact. Judges are also part of jury selection… both sides and the judge make choices on who to include on a jury.
The jury does receive specific instructions on what the exact text of the law says, and what elements there are to it.
It’s not just “you random 12 people better know what constitutes Title 18 of the US Code.”
The judge will give instructions on what is to be considered, what legal level it needs to rise to(ex “what is malice aforethought”).
The idea is if you can convince 12 of 12 people, with minimum bias, that a person did it, they likely did.
Opposed to a judge who is impartial, but also employed by the government… and in some instances has been less than impartial.
It should also be pointed out, a bench trial is a trial by judge and can be requested by the defendant.
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