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Although Americans think of jury trials as fundamental to justice, they are by no means universal. They are characteristic of the British and French systems of justice. Jury trials were introduced in Russia in 1864, abolished by the Russian revolution in 1917, and reintroduced in 1993. To this day, most first-world nations and democracies have jury systems, and many Westerners find it baffling and inappropriate to hand over such an important step in the administration of justice to a panel of non-expert citizens.

Although Americans think of jury trials as fundamental to justice, they are by no means universal. They are characteristic of the British and French systems of justice. Jury trials were introduced in Russia in 1864, abolished by the Russian revolution in 1917, and reintroduced in 1993. To this day, most first-world nations and democracies have jury systems, and many Westerners find it baffling and inappropriate to hand over such an important step in the administration of justice to a panel of non-expert citizens.

However, [[Israel]] and [[Singapore]], two highly-developed Western democracies, as well as [[India]] and [[South Africa]], two fairly well-developed democracies, do not have jury trials, though there have been moves at re-establishing the jury system in South Africa.

However, [[Israel]] and [[Singapore]], two highly-developed Western democracies, as well as [[India]] and [[South Africa]], two fairly well-developed democracies, do not have jury trials. Singapore abolished the jury system in 1969. Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, a former trial lawyer, told the BBC that "I had no faith in a system that allowed the superstition, ignorance, biases, and prejudices of seven jurymen to determine guilt or innocence". South Africa abolished civil jury trials under the apartheid era and replaced them with juries of elected officials dominated by the ruling party. The end of apartheid did not bring about the restoration of the jury system, but there have been moves to reintroduce it. India abolished jury trials on grounds that they would be susceptible to media and public influence. Israel never had jury trials in its legal history, as its penal code is largely inherited from the old British Mandate one, which lacked any juries. The British had decided that with Jews and Arabs living as two mutually-hostile communities, jury trials would not have worked in Palestine. Trials in these countries are held before either a single judge or panels consisting of multiple judges.

[[category:law]]

[[category:law]]

[[Category:Judicial]]

[[Category:Judicial]]