What or who is the Grand Jury?

Question

I don't understand what it means when they convene in private. Are they always the same people. Are they elected. Am I stupid? LOL

Answer 1

An ordinary jury is selected from the general population.  The only requirement is that they are honest citizens,  not people with records.  They come to the court room,  hear the evidence,  reach a verdict,  go home.

A Grand Jury is different,  at least in New Jersey.  People from the prosecution office,  police or others come to initiate a court proceeding.  This Jury does not decide whether the accused is innocent or guilty,  that is for another jury.  This Jury will decide whether the evidence presented warrants a court action.

In an ideal world,  the police would see a case,  fill in paperwork,  and the case would roll on.  In reality,  police may be ignorant of the laws that apply.  It is a reasonable limitation,  given the complexity of the law.  The police only needs to know that a crime has been committed,  and gather evidence.  A trained lawyer would look at the evidence,  and decide what law was broken.  This lawyer would explain to the Grand Jury,  and if the Grand Jury agrees there is enough evidence a crime was commited,  a formal accusation is generated.

Such thing sounds bureaucratic,  but it is necessary.  The fact that all accusations have to be justified before a group of ordinary citizens makes sure the people involved do their homework and behave honestly.  Things could go wrong otherwise.  A police officer accuses a bad guy of the wrong accusation,  and the guy may go free.  A police officer may decide a guy is guilty without evidence,  just on a gut feeling,  so he would present an accusation,  hoping the jury agrees with him.  A district attorney may present an accusation because a friend asks him to,  to harass a third person.  He is fully aware the third person is innocent,  and knows the person will go free,  but the goal is to have the third person spend time and energy on the court,  thus making him vulnerable to an attack of the friend.  All such actions waste valuable resources from the court,  plus diminishes respect for the law

Answer 2

Good to the Grand Jury.

Regards

Answer 3

In some states they decide if there is enough evidence to go to trail. They are a panel of impartial, ordinary citizens.

Answer 4

No you are not stupid.

In the federal system and some state systems (NY is one) before someone can be charged with a crime the prosecutor goes to a body of ordinary citizens and presents evidence (the defense does not put on there side) and the grand jury determines if the person gets charged.  Then at trial both sides are heard.

In theory this is suppose to be a check to make sure people are not wrongfully charged.  The prosecutor must have enough evidence that a group of citizens only hearing the prosecutors side says the person is probably guilty before the person gets charged and has to go to trial.