Do juries have a bad reputation?

Do juries have a bad reputation?

Sometimes people tell me that they think that jurors are dumb or stupid and they think juries are easily manipulated and they think that people who serve on juries are usually not very smart or don't get it, but we've done studies on this and we know that jurors as a group are usually more educated than the general population, they're highly conscientious when they serve on juries, they try to get the facts really, really straight and they pay careful attention, they're very aware while they're serving as jurors that they are considering and deliberating usually, especially in a criminal case, they're deliberating about the future of someone's life and they take that very seriously, so I think even though we sometimes talk about jurors as being, you know, we see funny cartoons about jurors falling asleep or not even knowing what the case is about but just, you know, saying, "Oh, lets find him guilty" or "Lets find him not guilty." That doesn't really happen. Jurors are so conscientious and I think we should all be proud when we have an opportunity to serve as jurors.