While satisfying a community's need for justice, an open trial can help insure a fair process and promote a sense of reassurance. Also, it can have general deterrent effect. Seeing the publicized end results of a criminal act can serve to dissuade others tempted to step outside the law. The right to a public trial, however, is not an absolute right. The judge has considerable discretion in excluding some people from the courtroom, in closing the doors to avoid overcrowding or in the interest of public health, or to exclude disorderly people or to bar minors in cases in which testimony is given that youngsters ought not to listen to.
Juveniles have no constitutional right to a public trial.
Many states provide for closed juvenile adjudication proceedings and either limit or prohibit press reports. The right to trial by jury has been interpreted by the United States Supreme Court to mean that in all criminal prosecutions where possible punishment is imprisonment for more than six months the defendant has a constitutional right to trial by jury. The Supreme Court requires that trial juries be selected at random from fair cross-section of the community in the district. It means that the jury cannot be consciously restricted to a particular group. Exclusion of person because of race, color, gender, or national origin has been held invalid.