You have 12 people that hears a case and makes a decision of guilt or not about the person sitting across from them. 12 random people. People who know nothing about you. People whose decision will map the rest of your life – good or bad. People who hopefully have discernment and a conscience that will decide a fair verdict. This is up in the air because human nature is far from perfect. We call these 12 the jury.
There are 2 people fighting against one another. We call these folks the attorneys. One for prosecuting- the other for defending. We can only pray the truth will be revealed. A lot of times this is not the case. A lot of times it boils down to which side has the best attorney and sadly money is at the root of the best.
Then you have one or many folks that tell a version of what they witnessed or know. These folks are called upon to sway the jury with their testimony. Some do – some don’t. You just never know which way lady justice will side with. These are called the witnesses.
Finally, you have 2 sides that sit in wait of a decision made by the 12 jurors upon hearing from witnesses and sometimes hard evidence. But, not always.
The jurors only hear what is allowed to be heard for different reasons. The jury rarely hears all the story. Only what is allowed by the judge or depending on the capabilities of the attorneys what they decide or argue. A jury never hears all of the story. These 12 people make a decision, sometimes a life or death decision, based only on what is allowed to be introduced or spoken in court. How scary is this?
I understand how the system works. I just don’t agree with it. If someone is given the job of deciding a person’s fate, they should have all the evidence presented in order to make a fair judgement. They never do. So, whose fault is it if they get it wrong based on what they have been given? Not their own. The blame lies with the system.
If a complete stranger is deciding the fate of another human being, I believe they should have all the facts, not just the ones that a few other people decide. So be it, if they hear testimony not entirely true, let them sort it out. They have the time to do this when deliberating. Deciding another’s fate is a hard thing to carry. So, by all means when doing this give them all the facts and testimonies.
If I could change one law or thing in our government it would be that nothing gets thrown out in court cases with juries. All is introduced and heard no matter what. If we give 12 people the power to decide fates then we must give them all the other stuff as well. Trusting 12 to deliver a fair verdict should automatically transfer to believing these 12 have enough brains to decipher what is true and what is not no matter what is brought up. All is heard and introduced while none is thrown out. Let the 12 decide.
When God Speaks 
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