Jury Trial
Trial by jury is the backbone of a Just Society’s legal system. It is a powerful check on corruption because jurors drawn from the citizenry are inherently outside the government’s control. They cannot be reliably bribed, intimidated, or otherwise coerced into complying with a corrupt cabal’s unjust or sacrilegious instructions, and so have the power to overrule its unjust laws. Conversely, when egregious crimes are committed which fall outside the technical bounds of the law, whether due to oversight or innovation, the jury retains the power to convict regardless and see justice done.
One maxim which was popular in the Founding Fathers’ day is that tyranny is the accumulation of legislative, executive, and judiciary powers in the same hands. While a better definition is that a tyrannical government is one that disarms its own people, and their older definition omits judgement as a separate function despite it being enshrined in the Constitution with trial by jury to protect against corrupt judges, this maxim is still a critical guideline for preventing corruption. If powers are dispersed, with the legislature writing laws, the executive enforcing laws, the judges interpreting laws, and juries determining guilt, it is difficult for corruption to take hold. However, if these powers are condensed down into a single set of hands, it is trivially easy to abuse that power to enrich the corrupt at society’s expense.
A jury composed of good men will have the wisdom to follow just law because they understand consistent laws which provide uniform justice to all citizens are the backbone of a Just Society. Their independence and anonymity shields them from corruption and intimidation, while the deliberate pace of a trial gives them the time required to fairly consider all the evidence before passing judgement. An unbiased jury methodically working through all the evidence and possibilities allows the best possible judgment to be made, providing the required confidence to punish the guilty.
This process is inherently slow and messy, and will inevitably fall short on occasion, but it is the best that can be done in our flawed, ever-changing world. This is why trial by jury must form the backbone of a Just Society’s legal system. Other, less certain, options may be provided to quickly resolve less serious cases, but the jury trial must be available to provide recourse. Facilitating compromise between the parties or formally accepting guilt is ideal when it works, and summary judgement may be enough to satisfy the parties in minor cases, but only the jury trial can properly resolve difficult situations. Thus, while a Just Society may require the parties to try other mechanisms first to reduce the expense of the court system, the jury trial is always the ultimate arbiter when they fail.
A Just Society recognizes that judgement is necessary for civilization to function in this imperfect mortal world, and that only God can ever be truly perfect in his judgement. However, while corrupt societies either embrace unjust rulings or abandon the concept of justice altogether, a Just Society turns to the wisdom God gave us through his prophets, the Founding Fathers, and embraces the jury trial as the best possible method we fallible mortals can use to determine guilt in our imperfect world.