Introduction:
If any proposition is beyond dispute it is that the jury plays a pivotal role in the American and Tennessee legal systems. This fundamental principle was recognized by the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System, “Only the jury provides the reassurance of neutral justice rendered by peers, a reassurance that shores up public faith in the judicial system.”
In recent years, the American jury has been closely scrutinized. While many countries, including the United Kingdom, have eliminated or curtailed the use of the jury in civil and criminal cases, very few commentators have recommended this drastic change in the United States. Rather, the focus has been on methods of improving rather than eliminating the American jury.
To this end, in recent years many American commissions have undertaken extensive reviews of the jury system in general or in a particular jurisdiction. Among the most widely discussed studies are those by the American Bar Association, National Center for State Courts.
