Runaway jury
This movie starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman starred together, the plot is quite twists and turns: a stockbroker is killed in a shooting case. His widow sued the gun-manufacturing company Vicksburg for inaction, which led to a flood of lethal firearms into the black market. Dustin Hoffman played the prosecution lawyer Lore Yin found a strong witness, smugly planning to open a judicial precedent. However, the gun companies have hired a senior consultant, Blue Gold played by Gene Hackman, to set up a network for them, using the usual methods to control the jurors one by one, and then play the outcome of the case to applause. John Cusack's nonsensical video game company employee was chosen to be a juror. After he joined the jury, the organization underwent changes that both the prosecution and the defense had not anticipated. Someone called Lan Jin and Lorre respectively, saying that the jury could be manipulated only by paying. So, in a game of two-party competition, the third party was suddenly killed... In the end, who won the war between Lore and Lanjin?
To be honest, in my taste, this movie is better than Twelve Angry Men and Twelve Citizens because it has a roller coaster-like plot. In addition, this film, which is nearly fifty years later than Twelve Angry Men, is obviously more detailed and in-depth in its description of the jury system. There are many complex legal words in the movie: pretrial (voir dire), perepmptory challenge, mistrial, juror sequestration (sequest), etc., and the film's torture of the jury system is also quite in place.
Blue Gold is a pervasive human trafficker. From jury investigation, evaluation, selection, to finding their culprits and controlling them, a set of processes is already in hand. Not to mention that there seem to be some coercive tactics to sway the ball, just to investigate and screen the jurors is completely appropriate within the legal framework. The U.S. legal system allows the prosecution and defense to select jurors to some extent. So, when Lan Jin deciphered his strong ego from the clasping of the hands of the preselection jurors, I still admired it. However, when both the prosecution and the defense try their best to select jurors who meet their own needs, often the final result of this game is that those who can unanimously agree to enter the jury are those with a fairly average level of intelligence. figure. As early as a 1946 paper by Federal Judge Julius Howard Miner, it was pointed out that defense attorneys tend to pick stupid people when selecting jurors to make up a jury. So what do you think of the prosecution?
At the same time, the US legal system has also set up a relatively loose jury liability immunity system. That is to say, if a citizen is selected to be a juror candidate, and he himself is not very willing to take this responsibility, he can ask the court to exempt him from his obligations, of course, need to provide a more reliable reason. Like the reason Cusack put forward in the movie to participate in the video game competition, the judge refused quite decisively. So, are people willing to serve as jurors or not? There is a detail in the movie, after the jury was formed, it was said that it was only $16 a day. Another person chimed in, $16! They thought it was 1892! It seems that being a juror is not a bad thing. As far as I know, in the United States, if a citizen is selected as a juror, his employer can withhold his salary. While more and more employers are choosing to voluntarily pay their jurors, that's $16 a day, compared to sitting in a courtroom watching so-called professionals screeching words they don't understand. The perks are really not high. It is for this reason that many people choose to request an exemption from jury duty. Professor He Fan mentioned in one of his articles that in a juror selection process in Ontario, more than 30 of the 50 juror candidates who were not on the scene raised their hands to express their unwillingness to serve as jurors.
Combining these two, the result is that those who sit on the jury are often either old, weak, sick or disabled, or self-righteous hollow embroidered pillows...
Just like Lan Jin's nonsense in the movie:
What is memorable is that, whether it is "Twelve Angry Men" that seems to praise the jury system, or "Runaway Jury" that seems to criticize the jury system, the final results of the jury's participation in the case are very pleasing: The truth is revealed and justice is done. It’s just that the way this result is achieved does not seem to be the same: in Twelve Angry Men, it can be said that the jury system itself guarantees the achievement of the result; while in “The Runaway Jury”, it is the loopholes in the jury system that help realization of the result.
Although the movie is twisty but warm, the reality is simple and cold. In the United States, the home of the jury system, the system is also on the decline. In an investigative report titled "Study on the Decline of Jury Trials," written by the president of the Florida Bar Association, a set of numbers is given: In 1962, 11.5 percent of the civil cases handled by the federal court system went to jury trials. %. In 2002, the figure dropped to 1.8%. In 1962, jury trials accounted for 15 percent of criminal cases handled in federal courts; in 2002 that number dropped to 4.7 percent.
In fact, although the movie arranges a seemingly happy ending, this ending is really not won by Lohr with his arguments in court, but by Nick, a good figure who fell from the sky (cao) and influence (kong) jury. come. The film also carefully used the mouth of Lan Jin to put forward a sharp criticism of this so-called justice result:
And I, after watching the film, couldn't help but use my limited legal thinking to expand on this result. A series of deductions: Gun companies were fined hugely, so they began to enforce strict control systems, resulting in fewer and more expensive regular guns on the black market. But criminals also need guns, so they have to buy local guns produced by informal manufacturers. As a result, the quality of the crime is greatly reduced: not only the criminals, but also the victim's personal and property safety is greatly affected - who can guarantee that the gun will go away Firelight walking on bad guys? Is this the result that Nick and his likes are happy to see?
Speaking of this, I suddenly have a discovery that is not a discovery: no matter what role people play, what views they hold in the big game of justice, no matter how hard people try to use the process of stacking beds to build houses To achieve balance with one exception after another, or try to use the judge's arbitrariness to a certain extent to gain efficiency, the common appeal of all people is nothing more than to maximize the display of human kindness and restraint in this game. evil. In this case, should there be some heroic closeness to each other? Furthermore, it seems that everyone is trying to use a lifeless system to regulate people who are full of variables. From this point of view, is it a bit tragic and solemn to "know it can't be done".
Statue of Justice in front of the courthouse: Justice is blind.
Does the writing so far mean that we can only end up in the arms of "agnosticism" that does nothing? of course not.
Movies may be able to interpret life in a dramatic way, but movies can never replace life. It's easy to sit down and talk about the Tao with one or two movies, but it takes more to go in and out of the complicated reality. I know that when I was watching a movie and eating potato chips, many of my former colleagues were consulting legal monographs, writing research reports, preparing case files, sorting out investigation records... Reality. And it is these bit by bit efforts that make the conception real and make the speculation full. It must be admitted that many times, these are more important than the movies.
I would like to pay tribute to those who work hard with this article.
(Finally, the balabala is over, so let's cook...)
Attached is the link to the original text of "Top Ten Key Questions You May Not Know About the Lei Yang Case". Regardless of the point of view, the process of argumentation is very exciting. This is the style of professionals...
View more about Runaway Jury reviews
