At Stardate 20030626.0018, Jan Coffey wrote:
> >I trust an average person taken from the street far more than I would > >trust someone who does it for a living. > > So, when you feel ill, you ask a not-medically-trained average person from > the street for a diagnosis, rather than go see a physician (a trained > professional who does this for a living)?
That is a big differnce! I trust 12 of my peers to say whether or not I am guilty than 1 man or woman who has all of that power.
Okay, then let's not ask *one* Joe Average to diagnose your illness, let's ask twelve Joe's.
You don't feel well. You drag twelve people in from the street, and they all say that you're having a case of the common cold. Nothing to worry about, keep warm, take in plenty of vitamin C, and you'll be feeling a lot better in a few days.
You have been diagnosed by twelve of your peers. Good for you. However, if you had consulted a *professional* (your physician) you would now have been in hospital because you actually have pneumonia. Unfortunately you didn't go see your physician, so rather than feeling a lot better in a few days, you'll be dead in a few days...
So much for trust in a dozen untrained amateurs...
> When someone allegedly broke a law, do you really believe that uneducated > Joe Average is more qualified to determine whether a law really was broken > than someone who has actually *studied* the laws?
Yes absolutly! and not just one someone, 12 someones who have to agree!
But why would those twelve be more qualified? You expect them to be able to tell if you broke a law, but they have never even studied law! It's like having your house built by someone who has never done construction work in his life!
You could of course contract some amateur to build your house -- just don't be surprised when the roof comes falling down.
> >That is too much power, and IMO Judges already have too much power. > > The only real power they have is to declare someone guilty and determine > appropriate punishment -- but then, that's what they are trained for and > get paid for! And if they screw up, their decision can be overturned by a > higher court.
When religion and polotics come into play, that can become very shady buisness.
I prefer 12 other reasonable people just like me, than one guy who might think that I need to be locked up becouse of my religions of political beliefs.
Same thing can happen with a jury. If you have killed someone, and only one jury member votes "not guilty" because he happens to be the only one who shares your (rather radical) political views, you'll walk -- despite the fact that you were caught with the still smoking gun in your hand. That wouldn't exactly be fair, now would it?
Jeroen van Baardwijk
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