Free Essays on Judicial Fairness

There are many aspects of the law that attempt to make a sure a jury or a judge is fair in handling legal matters. The Fifth and Fourteenth amendments provide that no person shall be deprived of â€Å"life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.† The procedural due process aspect of this amendment requires that government decisions to deprive a person of life, liberty or property must be done fairly. The procedural due process law gives an accused person the chance to object to his accusation before a fair and neutral decision-making body. The Sixth amendment also guarantees rights for the Muslim defendants to a jury trial and to a public trial. Through our legal history, we have created legal methods and traditions to apply these freedoms in a court of law. In our legal system, the two main sources of neutral decision makers are juries and judges. The law has a way of ensuring that these bodies are neutral and unbiased in their decision-making. While it will be impossible to gain complete neutrality, the law provides mechanisms within which fairness can be maximized. The process of voir dire attempts to minimize the bias a jury can have. Voir dire is the process of jury selection, which takes place before a trial can begin. In this process the attorneys for the defendant and plaintiff ask a group of potential jurors questions to determine whether that jury member has any bias towards his or her client. In the context of Muslim and Arab-Americans, the attorney for the defendant can probe the prospective jurors on his or her sentiments towards Muslims and determine whether his or her feeling would bring a bias into her decision making process. If the attorney for a Muslim or Arab-American defendant instinctively feels that a juror is biased, the attorney is afforded by the legal system the peremptorily challenge. With a peremptorily challenge, an attorney can ask that a potential juror not be sworn in without pr... Free Essays on Judicial Fairness Free Essays on Judicial Fairness There are many aspects of the law that attempt to make a sure a jury or a judge is fair in handling legal matters. The Fifth and Fourteenth amendments provide that no person shall be deprived of â€Å"life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.† The procedural due process aspect of this amendment requires that government decisions to deprive a person of life, liberty or property must be done fairly. The procedural due process law gives an accused person the chance to object to his accusation before a fair and neutral decision-making body. The Sixth amendment also guarantees rights for the Muslim defendants to a jury trial and to a public trial. Through our legal history, we have created legal methods and traditions to apply these freedoms in a court of law. In our legal system, the two main sources of neutral decision makers are juries and judges. The law has a way of ensuring that these bodies are neutral and unbiased in their decision-making. While it will be impossible to gain complete neutrality, the law provides mechanisms within which fairness can be maximized. The process of voir dire attempts to minimize the bias a jury can have. Voir dire is the process of jury selection, which takes place before a trial can begin. In this process the attorneys for the defendant and plaintiff ask a group of potential jurors questions to determine whether that jury member has any bias towards his or her client. In the context of Muslim and Arab-Americans, the attorney for the defendant can probe the prospective jurors on his or her sentiments towards Muslims and determine whether his or her feeling would bring a bias into her decision making process. If the attorney for a Muslim or Arab-American defendant instinctively feels that a juror is biased, the attorney is afforded by the legal system the peremptorily challenge. With a peremptorily challenge, an attorney can ask that a potential juror not be sworn in without pr...