I go to my first jury duty ever next week. OH man you can just feel my excitement. ………………………… 🙁
For me I guess it boils down to this, someone F’ed up and now I gotta deal with it. I have no idea if the person is guilty, or if the cops got the wrong guy, but either way, someone screwed up.
As for how many innocent people I would be willing to put in jail for guilty men going free, that depends entirely on the offence. Reckless endangerment cause you drove too fast on the freeway (not drunk), your looking at a good forgive and forget juror. Just the act of being tried is punishment enough for that. Shot 17 people while driving around randomly and running over little kids and puppies, your screwed.
Either way though, I would much rather have it worked out with a judge who is actually trained and paid to do this, and then appeal to a jury trial if sufficient reasons can be found. That way, youd get called once a decade instead of once a year, and everyone can still get a trial by peers if they have a good case.