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Grand juries in the United States
Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought.
Like the jury system as a whole, grand juries originated in England and spread throughout the colonies of the British Empire as part of the English common law system. Today, the United States is one of only two jurisdictions, along with Liberia, that continues to use the grand jury to screen criminal indictments. Japan also uses the system similar to civil grand juries used by some U.S. states to investigate corruption and other more systemic issues.
As of 1971, generally speaking, a grand jury may issue an indictment for a crime, also known as a "true bill", only if it verifies that those presenting had probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed by a criminal suspect.
Unlike a petit jury, which resolves a particular civil or criminal case, a grand jury (typically having twelve to twenty-three members) serves as a group for a sustained period of time in all or many of the cases that come up in the jurisdiction, generally under the supervision of a federal U.S. attorney, a county district attorney, or a state attorney-general, and hears evidence ex parte (i.e. without suspect or person of interest involvement in the proceedings).
The federal government is required to use grand juries for all felonies, though not misdemeanors, by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. All states can use them, but only half actually do, with the others using only preliminary hearings.
Some states have "civil grand juries", "investigating grand juries", or the equivalent, to oversee and investigate civil issues instead of criminal ones.
In the early decades of the United States grand juries played a major role in public matters. In the late 18th century, colonial civil, criminal and grand juries played major roles in checking the power of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. In some American colonies (such as in New England and Virginia) and less often in England, juries also handed down rulings on the law in addition to rulings on the facts of the case. The American grand jury was also indispensable to the American Revolution by challenging the Crown and Parliament, including by indicting British soldiers, refusing to indict people who criticized the crown, proposing boycotts and called for the support of the war after the Declaration of Independence. At the time of the founding of the United States, a grand jury indictment was required for almost all prosecutions and juries rendered the final verdict of almost all criminal and civil cases. During that period counties followed the traditional practice of requiring all decisions be made by at least twelve of the grand jurors, (e.g., for a twenty-three-person grand jury, twelve people would constitute a bare majority). Any citizen could bring a matter before a grand jury directly, from a public work that needed repair, to the delinquent conduct of a public official, to a complaint of a crime, and grand juries could conduct their own investigations. In that era most criminal prosecutions were conducted by private parties, either a law enforcement officer, a lawyer hired by a crime victim or their family, or even by laymen. A layman could bring a bill of indictment to the grand jury; if the grand jury found there was sufficient evidence for a trial, that the act was a crime under law, and that the court had jurisdiction, it would return the indictment to the complainant. The grand jury would then appoint the complaining party to exercise the authority of an attorney general, that is, one having a general power of attorney to represent the state in the case. The grand jury served to screen out incompetent or malicious prosecutions.[page needed] The advent of official public prosecutors in the later decades of the 19th century largely displaced private prosecutions. By the 21st century, the grand jury had lost almost all of its power as a check on other branches of government.
The grand jury right may be waived, including by plea agreement. A valid waiver must be made in open court and after the defendant has been advised of the nature of the charge and of the defendant's rights.
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Grand juries in the United States
Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought.
Like the jury system as a whole, grand juries originated in England and spread throughout the colonies of the British Empire as part of the English common law system. Today, the United States is one of only two jurisdictions, along with Liberia, that continues to use the grand jury to screen criminal indictments. Japan also uses the system similar to civil grand juries used by some U.S. states to investigate corruption and other more systemic issues.
As of 1971, generally speaking, a grand jury may issue an indictment for a crime, also known as a "true bill", only if it verifies that those presenting had probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed by a criminal suspect.
Unlike a petit jury, which resolves a particular civil or criminal case, a grand jury (typically having twelve to twenty-three members) serves as a group for a sustained period of time in all or many of the cases that come up in the jurisdiction, generally under the supervision of a federal U.S. attorney, a county district attorney, or a state attorney-general, and hears evidence ex parte (i.e. without suspect or person of interest involvement in the proceedings).
The federal government is required to use grand juries for all felonies, though not misdemeanors, by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. All states can use them, but only half actually do, with the others using only preliminary hearings.
Some states have "civil grand juries", "investigating grand juries", or the equivalent, to oversee and investigate civil issues instead of criminal ones.
In the early decades of the United States grand juries played a major role in public matters. In the late 18th century, colonial civil, criminal and grand juries played major roles in checking the power of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. In some American colonies (such as in New England and Virginia) and less often in England, juries also handed down rulings on the law in addition to rulings on the facts of the case. The American grand jury was also indispensable to the American Revolution by challenging the Crown and Parliament, including by indicting British soldiers, refusing to indict people who criticized the crown, proposing boycotts and called for the support of the war after the Declaration of Independence. At the time of the founding of the United States, a grand jury indictment was required for almost all prosecutions and juries rendered the final verdict of almost all criminal and civil cases. During that period counties followed the traditional practice of requiring all decisions be made by at least twelve of the grand jurors, (e.g., for a twenty-three-person grand jury, twelve people would constitute a bare majority). Any citizen could bring a matter before a grand jury directly, from a public work that needed repair, to the delinquent conduct of a public official, to a complaint of a crime, and grand juries could conduct their own investigations. In that era most criminal prosecutions were conducted by private parties, either a law enforcement officer, a lawyer hired by a crime victim or their family, or even by laymen. A layman could bring a bill of indictment to the grand jury; if the grand jury found there was sufficient evidence for a trial, that the act was a crime under law, and that the court had jurisdiction, it would return the indictment to the complainant. The grand jury would then appoint the complaining party to exercise the authority of an attorney general, that is, one having a general power of attorney to represent the state in the case. The grand jury served to screen out incompetent or malicious prosecutions.[page needed] The advent of official public prosecutors in the later decades of the 19th century largely displaced private prosecutions. By the 21st century, the grand jury had lost almost all of its power as a check on other branches of government.
The grand jury right may be waived, including by plea agreement. A valid waiver must be made in open court and after the defendant has been advised of the nature of the charge and of the defendant's rights.