The grand jury is a special feature of the American legal system. Its form dates back to the English Magna Carta of 1215. It was set up as a counterweight to the arbitrariness of the legal system. The idea behind the system is that fellow citizens, in the form of lay judges, should vote on whether it is likely that the accused has committed a criminal offence. Only after a guilty verdict by the jury does justice come into play.
According to the Fourth Amendment to the American Constitution, charges can only be brought against a citizen if there is sufficient evidence, such as an initial suspicion. It is this evidence that the grand jury will decide.
The Fifth Amendment requires that for crimes classified as serious under federal law, a grand jury must be involved.
A grand jury is a type of lay court to which persons are drawn at random or selected by the court of the district in which the offence was committed. The defendant can also object to the selection of the jury members. In such a case, that person is replaced.
The jury represents the average American citizen. 16 to 23 lay judges decide in secret, behind closed doors, whether the prosecution has presented evidence that proves an American citizen is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
If the jury returns a guilty verdict, a trial will take place some time later. The defendant’s sentence is then determined.
The presumption of innocence is another constitutional principle. In actual criminal proceedings, it forbids the accused from being convicted and treated as guilty until legal proof of guilt can be provided.
The accused shall be presumed innocent until his guilt has been proved, at least on the merits of the case, or until he has declared himself guilty. Until then, he may neither be punished nor treated as a guilty person.
To the German translation of this article: Die Grand Jury – das Geschworenengericht