University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository
Abstract
Complaints about the jury system and calls for its reform are nothing new-they have probably existed as long as the jury system itself. Warren Burger called for the reform of the civil jury in 1971\u27; in 1905 William Howard Taft decried the contemporary tendency to exalt the jury\u27s power beyond anything which is wise or prudent .... ,2 Judges complain to judges, lawyers complain to lawyers, legal academics write articles about the jury for other legal academics, social scientists report their research on juries to other social scientists, and the jurors themselves go home and express their exasperation to their families. Any of them may try to tell their stories to the public, and journalists fan the flames of discontent
