Quote Originally Posted by GodsPetMonkey
There are a few legally trained individuals on these boards, and Pindar has already made his opinion known.
Is good to read that!.

But i strongly disagree with you in two points:
1- Even if you try to teach the jury the science of law 5 h a day, it's too little time to understand (even more in complicated cases), and too much time wasted. The judgements by this standard can be delayed only by that. I've even heard that in USA the judgements can be delayed to the point of prescription just selecting the jury!!. I'll have to study for 6 years only to graduate myself, and more if i want specialization. But in reality study never ends, if you really want to practice law properly you've to keep yourself informed on pages and pages of doctrine and jurisprudence, besides of course of sociology, phylosophy, history and all the other auxialiary sciences of the law.
2- "but what we really want is someone who can look at the facts without being influenced by an extensive knowledge of the law." That's exactly the problem, if you don't have an extensive law knowledge then you will aply your moral, thus leading to absurd ends in the majotity of the cases. The law is not only the written one (because if i understand it well the word law in your language is used with the same amplitude as our word "derecho", "directum", wich alludes to all the science), it has other resources, two of them (the jurisprudence- custom expressed on the sentences- and the doctrine - free scietific work of jurists) particulary are way to important to just ignore them and put some people just for the sake of formality. To me law is just to important to go looking for formalities (even more criminal laws), when you're condemning people sometimes to 25 years in prison.
Even so for what i see the power of the mob is, until some point, limited. But when the parties chose to have or not have a jury. Both have to agree?

Said this i wanted to know what is aprox. the condemnation rate in your country and how many cases get to formal judgements.