Is jury duty becoming a thing of the past?
The statistics tell the story. Attorneys are simply not trying cases like they used to. It's a fact. Few courthouses are actually holding jury trials. Last year in Jessamine Circuit Court, there may have been a half-dozen jury trials. That's not many considering the number of cases that were filed and the population of Jessamine County.
The disappearing jury trial was the subject of a recent article in the legal magazine, Super Lawyers.
This article on jury trials is worth taking the time to read. It presents different perspectives that many will appreciate. The constitutional protected right to a trial by jury is fading away. Arguably it will never fully disappear, but the facts are clear, fewer and fewer people find themselves able, or willing, to assert their constitutional right. So the question is, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Many judges and lawyers might say its a good thing but frankly, I must disagree.
The subtitle of the referenced article above is "For better of for worse-depending on your perspective-lawsuits and criminal cases are increasingly being resolved outside the courtroom." One of the stats provided states that in 1962 each Federal Judge tried an average of twenty one (21) civil trials (annually) and in 2015 that number was reported to be only four (4) trials per year.
