U.S. Grand Juries - a.k.a. Kangaroo Court

Most Canadians are familiar with the term "grand jury" from American police procedurals, but hardly any of them know what it is. Click here for the Wikipedia entry for "grand jury."

A grand jury is a legal body that is empowered to investigate potential criminal conduct and to determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may compel the production of documents and may compel the sworn testimony of witnesses to appear before it. A grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning.

The only thing that's "grand" about a grand jury is that it's big (from the French "grand," meaning "big.") It's a big jury. The jury we're accustomed to seeing on TV is a "petit jury" -- American pronunciation, "petty jury" -- a small jury; usually 12, but in some states and in some proceedings, there may be only 6 jurors. The number of jurors in a grand jury varies from state to state, from 16 to 23.

This "big jury" is in fact a kangaroo court, by any definition of that term. There's a common saying in discussions of American law that "A grand jury would indict a ham sandwich." The only persons present at a grand jury hearing are the jury itself, a judge, and the prosecutor (and at least sometimes a court reporter). The prosecutor presents his reasons as to why criminal proceedings should be brought against the accused. There is no rebuttal. A recent Crooks & Liars post referenced an article by Tim Cushing in Techdirt entitled Grand Jury Somehow Fails To Indict Man Who Shot Deputy During No-Knock, Pre-Dawn Raid For Capital Murder. According to this article:

During a single four-hour workday last week, a Mecklenburg County [Charlotte, NC] grand jury heard 276 cases and handed down 276 indictments.That means the 18 jurors heard evidence, asked questions, weighed whether the charges merit a trial, then voted on the indictments – all at the average rate of one case every 52 seconds.