Trial jury (sud prisyazhnyh) in Ukraine?

[tornado]

Hi! Ukrainian Constitution has a trial jury institution in it. I am in the USA right now, going to be working for the court and I want to know if any of you ever heard about trial jury, know anything about it, think that Ukraine should have trial(grand)jury? If yes, than don't you think that a lot of criminals will simply bribe jurors and get away with the crime? If no, than why do you think so? Thanks for your response in advance

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Vitaliy Shmeriga

[Phillip]

Very stringent tests have prevented that from happening - it happens at times when people on both sides inadvertantly know each other.

Here, the Jury is chosen at random from the electoral roles and from that, the screning process begins.

In Europe, there are proffessional juries in most countries with an inquestorial court system. It works well as far as I understand it.

I have spoken to some judges here who think the system really works, and I'll take it from them!

Look into it...

It definately can work.

[johnstruthers]

In the US, "jury tampering" is an extremely serious offense, and rarely encountered. It requires the complicity of attorneys, who are automatically disbarred (licenses revoked) if found to be party to it.

It is judgement by peers, rather than judgement by those beholden to the government establishment. Trial by jury frequently results in "spirit of the law" rather than "letter of the law" judgements, which can limit government abuse.

the introduction of corruption ultimately depends on the honor of the jurors involved. If they value "justice" in the abstract, they will not be tempted.

Grand juries, however, operate in secrecy under special laws that forbid the presence of defense attorneys, and remove the rights against self-incrimination. They are inquisitorial tools that have been effective, but at a certain price to freedom.

"Juries of peers" are grounded in old English "common law," and were instituted to limit the powers of heavy-handed prosecutors and judges.

[tornado]

Thanks for your replies. What I am interested in mostly is how the trial jury will operate in Ukraine. I am working on my master's in University of Colorado and in summer I want to write about US trial jury and go in details trying to compare Ukraine and the US and see if we can really work smth out. I am extremely interested in what Ukrainians feel about trial jury and if they think it's going to work.

[Phillip]

Just to further Johns points,

Judges generally belong to 'the old boys club' (Especially, in the conservative Common Law system), and are typically not represetative of the whole of society. They are a safe bet, but as they invariably come from an exclusive education and upperclass background there is an unintended avenue for bias. Thus, the need for juries who don't share their often narrow minded views relates to the wider views they can offer in deciding guilt. (I am generallising to higher courts as they make the precedents and they have the Jury trials - lower courts rarely do).

There have been some unbelievable decisions made by men with sound minds and intregrety but little 'real life' experience. This is where the jury is usefull.

But as justice must be 'seen to be done' as opposed to being actually achieved; the jury system has the capacity of persuading the people that the decision was one representative of their values. Now if that is a good thing or nay - you decide.

Now, I realise you probably knew all that. I would think the justice being seen is a very big issue in Ukraine...

[This message has been edited by Phillip (edited 22 May 2000).]