Jury Diversity

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Pages: 3

Article, “Achieving Diversity on the Jury: Jury Size and the Peremptory Challenge”, questions the diversity within a six-person jury and a twelve-person jury and also examines the legitimacy of the use of peremptory challenges and how these challenges affect the jury makeup. It questions this by comparing the diversity of the community, with the diversity between the jury voir dire and the final jury members. During 1930, it was undoubtedly understood by Governor Randolph and the Supreme Court that a jury should and would consist of twelve members. However, this decision was overturned in 1970 when Justice White ruled that it is constitutional to have a jury of six instead of the former twelve, concluding that a difference in jury size would not create a difference in representation. Yet, this …show more content…
Striking a juror based on his or her race violates both the 6th and the 14th amendment of the constitution. The 6th amendment states that individuals have the right to an impartial trial. In the Batson v. Kentucky case, the defendant's right to an impartial trial was clearly violated when it was later concluded that the black jury members were clearly dismissed due to their race. Making it unconstitutional being that Batson was not accurately judged by members of their community. This unfair discrimination also violates the 14th amendment, specifically the Equal Protection Clause which prohibits law from providing unfair treatment. Once someone’s 6th amendment is violated within the courts, their 14th amendment is also violated. The case of Swain v. Alabama was the initial case to rule against unfairly striking juror members due to their race by citing the Equal Protection Clause. However, it was not until the Batson v. Kentucky case that the courts created a series of procedures to prevent unconstitutional peremptory challenges. The article states two reasons in which a