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Show 'rcmzEN I I jpry Duty Chance for Front-Row View of U. S. Justice at Work ) of a series of 10 l ' iVf Th .American Her-I'W'ASZ Her-I'W'ASZ oonoornlnr the ( ; 1 dpromise of a good cit-serve cit-serve on a jury when &A ,M receive a notice of :t; '"f t, wur first reaction may brother, how can I get out of Vn interferes with your work s W lot oJ trouble-lh" "X chicken feed. flJ. anvone who dodges respon-' respon-' I Tory duty digs his UtUe ; Li away from the foundation 't ff of our country's broadest Ojfc reverse side of the right of 'ii 111 a jury box and J ,1 at the accused on the stand. . can you fail to say, "There, ,f the grace of God, go I?" J? when lining to the two sides J, damage suit, how can you fail I I at, "Wat if I were in the j fix?" .. , i" 'a jury of 12 impartial, open- .jjed men and women, a little aiss section of the community, Eto oath, is every man's protec-' protec-' o, against injustice, individual prejudice, intolerance and perse- fi , . . 7 HUT DUTY is a chance to have t: , front-row view of how our demo- 1 cratic justice is administered. You may have wondered why justice jus-tice moves so slowly and why so much expense is justified in sometimes some-times minor cases. From your seat 2 1 in the jury box you will gain a new j (5 and com- QOjLaj$Jf forting real- ?Kj'v7jf, ization that !Ll the system J t of pleas, tp i nJ ruies ot evi" I i-s?5 dence, ob- jections, ex- 1 ceptions and legal briefs and arguments, complicated com-plicated as it is, gives time and opportunity op-portunity for the slightest ray of possible innocence to shine out for the truth to prevail beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt. Lack of familiarity may have given you a distorted view of courtroom court-room procedure, and a fear or dislike dis-like of courts in general. Jury duty gives you a new insight into the reasons for the many happenings happen-ings of the courtroom which cannot can-not fail to send you home a better citizen. There are three kinds of juries on which you might be called to serve: The grand jury's function is to hear complaints of the commission of an offense and to inquire, by aid of testimony presented by the district dis-trict attorney, whether there are "prima facie," that is, "at first view," grounds for criminal prosecution. pros-ecution. It functions, therefore solely sole-ly in criminal courts. ... IN A FEW states the grand jury may be done away with, even in murder cases, and the charges may thus be brought by the prosecutor, to avoid delays incident to grand jury hearings. A trial jury, petit jury or common com-mon jury is used in all cases except when the accused elects to be tried by the court or is charged with only a "petty offense." It functions only after the grand jury has returned an indictment against the accused. Witnesses are presented both by the prosecuting officer in the behalf of the state or commonwealth and by the attorney for the defendant. THE PETIT or common jury is employed in civil cases, except where the issue is one of such a nature that the case may be decided de-cided by the court (judge) without a jury. The procedure is much the same as in a criminal case, except that the district or state's attorney has no connection with it. Private citizens, and not the state or commonwealth, com-monwealth, are the prosecutors in a civil suit, except where the state has a civil interest, as in a tax case, for example. A coroner's jury is impaneled by the coroner to help decide facts surrounding death of one or more persons when there is cause to believe that death may have resulted re-sulted from a criminal act. The coroner acts as presiding judge, has the power to call witnesses and may place suspected persons under bond to await grand jury action. This mrticl. Is Chapter ! of the booklet "Good Citlien" produced by the American Heritage FoundaUon. sponsors of the freedom train. A eomplete book may be obtained by sendinff 25 cents to the American Heritage Fonndatlon, 17 East 40th Street, New York. N. Y. |