In most criminal cases the jury renders a verdict of innocence or guilt, but the judge sentences the defendant. In some states, juries may determine punishment in capital cases. Throughout the world the use of jury trials is limited. The French Revolution initiated trial by jury on continental Europe, and this spread to other civil-law countries, but only for criminal trials. In the 20th century jury trials have been abandoned or eliminated in most civil-law countries.
Jury trials survive primarily in the common-law countries, above all, the United States.
Even there and in England jury trial has declined in favor of trial by judge. Many critics urge the curtailment or elimination of the jury trial as an amateurish and inefficient method of determining a legal issue.