The logic that it is frightening that this man’s decisions have power over us, whether in his capacities as judge or as voter. Hence it is frightening that a great many people in whom we would not entrust our lives also have votes.
Jurors are treated very differently from voters. They are selected so as not to be biased, they can be removed during the trial, they are kept away from outside influences, the evidence they are allowed to hear is very restricted, they are given instructions on how to vote for various charges and it is the judge who determines the actual sentence in response to their decision. If it is deemed that something went wrong (even years after the sentence is handed down), a mistrial may be declared.
More realistically, they’re selected so as to have a bias acceptable to the counsels and the judge, they are kept away from, uh, undesirable influences, they are given the evidence that the counsels & judge think will make them vote appropriately.
The only possible way a jury system could be any good is by being compared with even more horrid alternatives, like a judge-only court. Sort of like democracy.
There’s plenty of countries where democratic rule is good and stable, and it’s not too hard to predict those. Some obvious predictive variables are tradition of rule of law (which you get transitioning out of some dictatorship like Korean, but not some others like Soviet), low economic inequality, and stability of political system.
All happen to be false in case of South Africa. But these also tend to correlate with wellness and stability of any other political system—so democracy might still be the least bad system for South Africa, given such constraints.
It’s a pity you didn’t extend the logic further.
The logic being that I disapprove of the judge’s ruling and wish to undermine his credibility with mockery?
The logic that it is frightening that this man’s decisions have power over us, whether in his capacities as judge or as voter. Hence it is frightening that a great many people in whom we would not entrust our lives also have votes.
And there’s that whole ‘jury of my peers’ thing that really scares me. Good point (that I really didn’t want to be reminded of.)
Jurors are treated very differently from voters. They are selected so as not to be biased, they can be removed during the trial, they are kept away from outside influences, the evidence they are allowed to hear is very restricted, they are given instructions on how to vote for various charges and it is the judge who determines the actual sentence in response to their decision. If it is deemed that something went wrong (even years after the sentence is handed down), a mistrial may be declared.
More realistically, they’re selected so as to have a bias acceptable to the counsels and the judge, they are kept away from, uh, undesirable influences, they are given the evidence that the counsels & judge think will make them vote appropriately.
The only possible way a jury system could be any good is by being compared with even more horrid alternatives, like a judge-only court. Sort of like democracy.
Good points. I’m reminded of Robin’s Law as No-Bias Theatre.
Old South African government didn’t really “work” for anyone who wasn’t white.
Some black south africans disagree.
Just because the new black government is bad, doesn’t mean the old white government wasn’t bad.
Some government collapses go quite well, others like South Africa and Soviet Union don’t.
Fair enough. The point wasn’t that white rule is good, but that democratic rule is bad.
There’s plenty of countries where democratic rule is good and stable, and it’s not too hard to predict those. Some obvious predictive variables are tradition of rule of law (which you get transitioning out of some dictatorship like Korean, but not some others like Soviet), low economic inequality, and stability of political system.
All happen to be false in case of South Africa. But these also tend to correlate with wellness and stability of any other political system—so democracy might still be the least bad system for South Africa, given such constraints.