Jury System of UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Jury System of UK - Essay Example But considering the complexity of many trials today - especially with the advances made in forensic science and the complexity of many civil trials, severe doubts regarding the efficacy of the jury system have been made. First of all, it is correct to consider whether a jury can in fact be "objective", especially when there has been a lot of pretrial publicity. Many studies have documented adverse effects of pre-trial publicity on juror decision making (Linz & Penrod, 1992; Otto, Penrod & Dexter, 1994; Ogloff & Vidmar, 1994; Studebaker & Penrod, 1997). These studies point out that jurors do not exist in a vacuum and are likely to have some opinion of a well-known case before they enter the courtroom. In many ways this can be linked to the ideas of groupthink. Just as the jury may be influenced by what the public outside supposedly 'thinks' regarding a case - usually influenced by the media - so as a whole they may come to conclusions based upon a kind of consensus feeling rather than rational thought. This type of situation has been called "groupthink". Janis Irving has created a perhaps more sober definition in which she describes groupthink as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action" (Irving, 1972). There are various interpretations and analyses of the practical results of groupthink that have occurred over the years. In the original article in which the term groupthink was postulated, Whyte described group think in the following way: We are not talking about mere instinctive conformity - it is, after all, a perennial failing of all mankind. What we are talking about is a rationalized conformity - an open, articulate philosophy which holds that group values are not only expedient but right and good as well. (Whyte, 1952) (emphasis added) One way of improving jury decisions, and thus making them more reliable, would be to actively educate juries on the dangers of groupthink before a trial starts. Just as their knowledge of the case, predisposition towards certain verdicts, experience of this type of crime/action are often tested through the process of voir-dire, so juries could be taught in a short workshop on the problems of groupthink and how to avoid them before the trial begins. There are various interpretations and analyses of the practical results of groupthink that have occurred over the years. Some, such as McCauley (1987) have concentrated on some of the more ominous sides of the tendency in which individuals may be swayed into ways of behaving that they would not otherwise consider. For example, extreme cases of groupthink can often be found within various religious cults, sometimes leading to disastrous and tragic consequences such as the mass suicides at Jonestown or of the Heaven's Gate group. These are thankfully rare examples of an extreme example of groupthink in which what may be a powerful good is turned into a destructive negativity because of the pathological nature of those who are leading the groupthink. Other cases of groupthink have been found within organizations of some of the most intellectual and highly educated people (who would not be expected to be easy 'followers' as were the mostly uneducated

Discuss the relationship between nationalist and anti-nationalist Essay

Discuss the relationship between nationalist and anti-nationalist memories - Essay Example of historians, journalists, and demagogues, NGOs’ ad statesmen in invoking the past in a selective or all inclusive manner is indeed crucial in shaping the public discourse over what the past means. Since the topic of the paper is about exploring the connections between nationalist and antinationalist memories, this introduction is to set the context for the paper by alluding to the myriad ways in which the past can both be a source of inspiration as well as a source of conflict. Hence, memories can be nationalistic for a sect or ethnic group and the same memories can be antinationalistic for another sect or ethnic group. It is only when the shared memories lend themselves to commonality and objective interpretation can there being true peace in the world (Wimmer, 28). The Balkans is often cited by researchers for the prevalence of memories that are nationalistic and antinationalistic. The reason for choosing the Balkans by these researchers can be fathomed from the fact that the Balkans was a place where there were instances of the collective memory of a shared experience giving way to fractious and fissiparous memories mainly due to the internecine civil strife that plagued the region in the 1990’s. The Balkans and the various ethnicities present there are representative of the way in which fragmented memories often take hold when a nation composed of different ethnicities and bound together by slender threads of commonalities give way to strife when the threads cannot hold any more. The way in which some citizens of the erstwhile Yugoslavia remember fondly the times under Tito and the others speak optimistically about the future are emblematic of the memory tricks that the mind can play on people who had a shared past but are now living in divided and fragmented ways (Todorova, 13). Similar is the case with the Partition of India following the exit of the British from Imperial India following World War Two. Once the British departed, there was an outbreak