ABSTRACT
The right to trial by jury, which the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees to all criminal defendants except those prosecuted for only trivial offenses, is meant to inject a degree of popular control into criminal trials. Lawyers have long studied jury decision-making in hopes of learning how to influence and control it. Journalists have satisfied public curiosity by reporting on individual trials, sometimes interviewing former jurors. Juries are available in all nontrivial federal civil trials and in many state ones. States may also use them for such purposes as fixing the value of real estate in eminent domain seizures and, under the supervision of coroners, determining the cause of death. Communities have tried to reduce the cost through various reforms, including the use of six-member or non- unanimous juries, reduced voir dire proceedings, computerized scheduling, plain-language scripts and jury instructions, and many others.
