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Thu 15 Apr, 2004 07:49 am
If you were on a jury and adamantly believed the opposite of all the other eleven jurors, what would you do? Would you cave? Would you try to convince the others of your viewpoints and then cave after a certain amount of time? Or would you completely refuse to change your position?
Only time would tell I suppose but I'd hope that I'd maintain my position if I honestly felt it to be right and hope to convince the others to "see the light". If they don't.. well, that's what the whole "hung jury" thing is about.
I would stand my ground. I take the justice system very seriously. I would not give in to something that I did not believe just because I wanted to "get it over with".
I was once the foreman of a jury in a felony case, although it was not a particularly serious case, like a murder. Anyhow, we were charged by the judge to render a verdict that included two levels of offense. We had to determine whether the accused was guilty of a lesser offense, or a greater offense that included the lesser offense, or aquittal.
We all agreed that the accused was guilty. The other jurors went one way in terms of which offense that the accused committed. I went the other. I stood my ground, and convinced them, with rational arguments, that the other conclusion was more appropriate.
Loved the movie Twelve Angry Men. What a marvelous study of group dynamics.
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