Why do we have juries?
We have juries for a really special reason. We have people who come together- they don't know each other, they have no vested interest in the outcome of the case. But they come together and they sit down and they deliberate together. They listen to all the facts. They learn about the law that's being applied in this case, and then they go into a jury room, where it's private. And they have to consult with each other in the spirit of honesty and openness, and reach a verdict. And jurors have a conscience. And each juror can consult their own conscience and say, "How should I really decide in this case? Is this person guilty of doing something bad? Did they make a mistake? Is this a good law? Is it a good law, but is it being misapplied? Is this a person who should be punished harshly, and maybe sent to prison for what this person has done?" And if the juror decides that the person is not someone who should be sent to prison, if they think that it's a bad law- for instance, fugitive slaves, no one would send them back. That's a bad law to send slaves back. So they refuse to convict them. And so, jurors can do that. They can refuse to convict anybody. So everybody should want to serve on a jury so that they can make sure only fair laws are applied to people.
