ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that criminal trial juries perform an important but inadequately appreciated social function. It suggests that jury trials serve as a means through which we as a community take responsibility for —own up to — inherently problematic judgments regarding the blameworthiness or culpability of our fellow citizens. The chapter also suggests that the jury's responsibility-taking role is important primarily because of what it may be understood to say about who we are as a community. It focuses on just one of the myriad of potentially meaningful aspects of the criminal jury trial and on just one of the many potential meanings which might be ascribed to that aspect. The chapter argues that jurors have a duty to bring in a conviction when the evidence so warrants; and a refusal to do so represents a breach of that duty. The Caldwell doctrine offers example of a situation in which the jury's awareness of its responsibility has been considered central.
