Groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings
A grand jury investigating the Arcadia Hotel fire in Boston, Massachusetts in December 1913.
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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.[1] The grand jury originated under the law of England and spread through colonization to other jurisdictions as part of the common law. Today, however, the United States is one of only two jurisdictions, along with Liberia, that continues to use the grand jury to screen criminal indictments.[2] Japan also uses the system similar to civil grand juries used by some U.S. states to investigate corruption and other more systemic issues.[3]
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.[4][obsolete source] 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).
Federal grand jury for the Roy Olmstead trial, Seattle, 1926
The federal government is required to use grand juries for all felonies, though not misdemeanors, by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. While all states in the U.S. currently have provisions for grand juries,[5][obsolete source] only half of the states actually employ them[6] and twenty-two require their use, to varying extents.[7][obsolete source] The modern trend is to use an adversarial preliminary hearing before a trial court judge, rather than grand jury, in the screening role of determining whether there is evidence establishing probable cause that a defendant committed a serious felony before that defendant is required to go to trial and risk a conviction on those charges.
Some states have "civil grand juries," "investigating grand juries," or the equivalent, to oversee and investigate civil issues instead of criminal ones.[8][additional citation(s) needed]
^Zapf, Patricia A.; Roesch, Ronald; Hart, Stephen D. (December 4, 2009). Forensic Psychology and Law. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-470-57039-5. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
^Shapiro, Chava; Clark, James (2023-09-27). "It's Time to Abolish Grand Juries Once and for All". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
^Gastil, John; Fukurai, Hiroshi; Anderson, Kent; Nolan, Mark (September 13, 2014). "Seeing Is Believing: The Impact of Jury Service on Attitudes Toward Legal Institutions and the Implications for International Jury Reform" (PDF). Court Review. 48: 126. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
^Cook, Joseph P. (1971), "Probable Cause to Arrest", Vanderbilt Law Review, 24: 317–39, quoting Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91 (1964).
^Brenner, Susan; Shaw, Lori (2003). "State Grand Juries". University of Dayton School of Law. Archived from the original on 2010-07-18. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
^"FAQs about the Grand Jury System". American Bar Association. Archived from the original on April 24, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
^Brenner, Susan; Lori Shaw (2003). "Power to abolish Grand Jury". University of Dayton School of Law. Archived from the original on 2007-02-17. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
^"DeKalb judge keeps grand jury report from public but allows CEO access". WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta. 12 February 2013.
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amendments to the Constitution of theUnitedStates have been proposed by theUnitedStates Congress and sent to thestates for ratification since the Constitution...
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