The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-10-26
HYGIENE OF OUR
JURY SYSTEM
Criminal Confinement of Jurors in
Ill-Ventilated Rooms and the Re
suit as Shown in Their Verdicts.


Before the Medlco-Lcgal society on
Sept. 26, DIR. T. ID. Crothers, of Hart
ford, Conn. read a paper, which the
Medical Record prints, entitled "A
Psychological Study of Jurors" In
it he said:
THE uncertainty of Jurors, and the
capricious, whimsical character of their
verdicts, are accepted as inevitable.
and explained as part Of the natural
weakness of the mind. 1t is assumed
that, If the facts are clearly presented,
a jury will give a common-sense ver-
diet, which will approximate the truth
and human justice. When they fail, it
is due to the confusion Of testimony,
the misrepresentation of counsel, and
the general perversion of facts Many
thoughtful men consider the judgment
of twelve men, who are disinterested,
superior and on general matters of dis
pute Of far more reliable character
than the judgment of one trained man.
| Yet, literally, the verdicts of twelve
! men, based on the same set of facts
| differ widely, and can never be an
| ticipated; and, whether wise or unwise,
are clearly due to other influences than
! the commonly supposed conflict of facts
and motives of truth and justice. While
! II would be difficult to doubt the mo-
| tive and intent of the average juror to
be just and fair in his conclusions, it
| would seem that certain conditions and
| surroundings make it impossible in
| most cases either to understand the
| case in question, or the principles of
! equity involved.
From a medical and scientific point
of view, the average twelve men who
! are appealed to by the counsel and
| judge to determine wisely the issue of a
case are usually incompetent naturally,
and are generally placed in the worst
| possible conditions and surroundings to
exercise even average common sense in
any disputed case. Practically and lit
orally twelve men of uncertain intelli-
! genCe, and of doubtful capacity and
training essential to determine the dis
puted questions. are placed i'm the most
adverse hygienic conditions for healthy
! brain and functional activity. Sup
! posing these men to have fair average
intelligence with honesty of purpose,
they are placed always in a close, bad
ly ventilated court room, and are
obliged to sit in one place for five OF
| SIX nOufS Il Gay. IN cases OF Capltal
crime they are housed at some hotel at
night, and have changed diet changed
sleeping-roOms, imperfect exercise, con-
tinuous mental strain, and this may
be continued for a week, ten days, on
even longer. Intelligent and sound
brain reasoning would be impossible
under these conditions. Even judges
trained to examine and reason from
facts along legal lines, display weak
mes and confusion of mind at the close
of "A long trial on many occasions.
The diet of hotels. consisting of rict
meats and deserts in great variety. il
usually different from the food Of the
average juryman, particularly of tht
working class. The result is alway.
overeating and under-eXercise. Thi!
alone woulG quickly break up or dis
order the mental activities. In addI
tion to this, the confinement in the bat
air of the court-rooms brings new
sources Of poisoning particularly de