When Thomas Jefferson and our founding fathers wrote the constitution, they created three main branches of government (Legislative, Executive and Judiciary). Then they thoughtfully created one more body of people to help protect our country and that is the JURY. The jury is truly our voice as citizens and the jury may be the most important part of our government. For only a jury can truly protect our rights from abuse and tyranny, no matter what the size or power that may be before them. The jury system is the ultimate leveler of power to protect all of our rights. The jury truly is the voice of the people on a one on one level. The jury is the voice who determines how safe we expect people and corporations to be in our society.
Have you ever stopped to think how is the minimum quality of care that we expect from doctors and hospitals determined? As time moves forward, the standards of care that we expect from health care providers, manufacturers of products and businesses who provide goods and services to us all, are changing their minimum standards due to the voice of us common people and that voice is spoken by our juries. Only juries are given the power to say what are the minimum standards that we expect. On a case by case basis, a jury is asked whether the conduct of a person or corporation was such that it was “negligent” or below what we accept as safe. And the jury is provided certain guidelines from the judge, but it is still the jury who determines if the defendant in a civil claim deviated from safe practices that we normally expect from others like him.
Only a jury, on a case by case basis, gets to be our voice It is our voice to tell negligent drivers and dangerous product manufacturers what we expect from them to protect our friends, families and neighbors. Through the voice of the jury, we tell these people and corporations who may try to cut corners at the risk of injury or death to others, not to do so. The jury ultimately determines the standards of care that we expect everyone to adhere to.
Throughout the history of the United States, some people have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our jury system and I would like to say thank you to all those who came before me. We should all be counted on to help protect the highest standards that we enjoy in this country and must protect our jury system because it is truly the voice of the people for the people.
Matt Powell