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
Because the people who founded our legal system believed that governments can become corrupt, judges may abuse their power, and that the law should be upheld by the community themselves. So before punishing someone for breaking the law (in most cases), they get to go before a jury of their peers, and let the jury make the decision. A jury of non-lawyers is much harder to bribe or corrupt, and since they aren’t being paid by the government (besides a tiny juror fee), they don’t have any duty to give the state a win in any case.
If you’re being found guilty of breaking the law, it’s because your neighbors examined the evidence and found it to be true, beyond reasonable doubt. This means that the community has power over itself, rather than being at the total mercy of the government.
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