The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1911-10-30
why IGNORANCE OTIS INTO THE
JURY BOX.

two men equally unbiased, but une
quail In strength OF mind. the law
processes to prefer as Juror the
one who liz the more intellectually
competent But in practical realit,
the likelihood is that the one who Ia
the more intellectually competent
to extract the relevant truth out of q
mass of evidence Will be set aside In
favor of the other. the one who II
the less capable of performing the
labor Of thought. The chance in IA
! yor of the less competent of the TWO
. men is probably as two to one. One
who can SO far forget the laws pro-
fession as to Judge it solely by its
, performance would come to the con-
clusion that the practices which gov
ern in the getting of juries were de-
!, vised for the purpose OF excluding
men who are capable of dispassion-
ate and sustained thought.
That this is so is due, of course, to
several causes rather than to any
single one. One of these is that since
the task of lawyer, in the trial OF
case, is to impose his own VIII on
the jury. the mind least capable OF
intellectual resistance is the best
1 fitted to his purpose. If lawyers I'm
posed on themselves the duty of first
convincing themselves that their
client ia innocent. their task would
be one of cold reasoning, and men
most capable of reasoning would be
the kind they would naturally pre-
fer. But lawyers go into the trial o.
cases with no such judicial poise o.
| mind. It may be that in preparing his
case lawyer comes incidentally by
| some opinion as to the guilt OF his
! client, but his purpose is to mini
! mize the significance Of such adverse
evidence as he can not entirely sup
press and to magnify the signifi-
canoe of such favorable evidence as
may be available to him. These are OF
course cases in which the circum-
stances are so conflicting and mys-
tifying that two minds equally cap |
able can differ honestly over the |
question of guilt. There are cases, |
too, In which the issue is really one
Of extenuating circum distances, and
two minds of perfect integrity may
disagree as to the amount of credit
il is proper to allow for each OF these
But in a majority or
cases the task Of a lawyer is to sup
press the evidence OF crime and to |
reduce or destroy the significance OF |
that which he can not suppress. His
work is that OF conjurer, or, bet
ter, a hypnotist, and 1t Is we'll known
OF course, that one of weak will AM
| low mental organization is the best
subject for hypnotic feats. The hard
| er the defense the more desirable Is It
/ that the jury be made UP OF weak
minded men. An ignorant jury Is the
hope of criminal an intelligent
/ fury the reliance of the Innocent. 1t
| is this vital need which criminals
have of ignorance In the jury box
that has betrayed us into the SUI
preme folly of discriminating against
men, as Jurors. who happened to
have read OF the case to be tried
and who, having read of It, have
formed some nebulous idea as to the
guilt or innocence of the man accus-
ed
Another reason why juries are in
most cases made up OF the least COM
petent men it is easy to get is that
the intelligent men OF community
evade jury service. This cause of
jury incompetence, and therefore or
miscarriage of justice, operates Of
tener and more potently than is gem
orally appreciated. Jury service IS
the most rksome OF tasks TO all save
perhaps loafers. 1t is 50 irksome to
most men that, to escape, they will
/ resort to tricks and subterfuges
| which In any other relation OF
| life would brand one as dishonor-
able Men wilfully avow prejudice
which they do not feel, profess to
have read studiously about cases OF
which they have scarcely any other
knowledge than that to be got In
street corner gossip, perjure them
selves In strict reality without ap-
parently any qualms OF conscience
whatever, Trial by jury is perhaps
based upon the most sacred of all
our political principles, is the one in.
, nfltuNApi III Nhltu hi6 lp~pdApll CIV
illzation glories most; and yet, not
outstanding II Is the most reveret
OF our institutions, 1t is the one in
stitution against which treason ha,
been made merely a conventions
delinquence. The average man who
on being summoned for jury service
excuses himself on some paltry pre-
; text instead of concealing the fact
as something to be ashamed OF, Is
more likely to boast, among his init
mates of having outwitted the law
yers and the court.
Denunciation of the laws and the
courts for miscarriage of Justice is
widespread, clamorous and popular;
and they deserve, doubtless, the lar
ger part OF that denunciation. But
the likelihood is that the man who
denounces them most vehemently
has, by his own derelictions and de-
sertion of civic duty contributed lib
orally to the causes which have pro-
duced the condition that excites his
| anger. If ii liz true-Rnd of course ff