Religion and Jury Duty

[_Bond James Bond]

Any thoughts on the religion issue - esp. Mormon-related?

As one example:

Mormons might be viewed (read: stereotyped) as pretty conservative in family values/law and order issues, so a prosecuting attorney might want Mormons for a case involving say a so called "victim less crime" like possession of a weak drug or prostitution (leaving aside the issue of plea bargain, for the sake of argument). The defense would want libertarians or people who might be sympathetic of the plaintiff who is being abused by the system (stereotype: minorities, liberals, the young educated for example) while the plaintiff would want by the book types who see a law being broken and want to doll out punishment because a law broke, without discussion about the ethics/legality of the law.

But in all cases you have to look at the questioning of the juror because of
outliers, exceptions to the rule, etc.

Anyway, ideally, as officers of the court, shouldn't all lawyers, prosecution or defence, want the same thing - "good" jurors? And shouldn't they be able to agree on a definition of a good juror?

The lawyers want jurors who will help them win! That's the definition of a good juror.

Would a verdict rendered by an unbiased jury not be superior to a verdict rendered by a jury consisting of those that the defence thought would be biased in one direction plus those that the prosecution thought would be biased in the other? And that each lawyer managed to "get past" the other?

As Denzel Washington said in the movie Philadelphia when he was told justice is blind in the courtroom, "with all due respect, we don't live in this courtroom." Sure it would be great but humans are flawed.

[_bcspace]

What makes someone a good juror?

One who has the same opinion with respect to the prosecution or the defense.

[_Malcolm]

To whose advantage is it for a member of a jury to be religious - especially a Christian? Or is it of any advantage at all?

Do you think that a religious person is more likely to be a "good" juror?

What makes someone a good juror?

I'm asking because of a disagreement I have had with someone over the benefits of having Christians serve on juries, rather than people with no religious affiliation.

I have only sat on a jury once in my life, it was to do with the theft of Chicken Wire from a Hardware store.
The only requirement IMHO that one needs for jury service is to be a good listener, an awareness of all the facts, an open mind to weigh up the evidence that both prosecution and defence present to the Court, and the knowledge of the difference between right and wrong.
At the time of my jury service I was a fully paid up and active member of the LDS church, but do not think that my church membership or otherwise would have made any difference to how I viewed or weighed up any issues presented. A person of no religious affiliation could do the job just as well as a believing member of any church. Interested to see how other people think though.

[_malkie]

Is anyone else disturbed by the idea that "the system needs God-fearing people on the jury"?