The death of the American trial / Robert P. Burns.
2009
KF8910 .B869 2009 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection
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Details
Title
The death of the American trial / Robert P. Burns.
Author
Burns, Robert P., 1947-
ISBN
9780226081267 (alk. paper)
0226081265 (alk. paper)
0226081265 (alk. paper)
Imprint
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Language
English
Description
183 p. ; 24 cm.
Call Number
KF8910 .B869 2009
Dewey Decimal Classification
347.73/7
Summary
From the Publisher: The American trial looms large in our collective imagination-witness the enormous popularity of Law & Order-but it is, in reality, almost extinct. In 2002, less than 2 percent of federal civil cases culminated in a trial, down from 12 percent forty years earlier. And the number of criminal trials also dropped dramatically, from 9 percent of cases in 1976 to only 3 percent in 2002. In The Death of the American Trial, distinguished legal scholar Robert P. Burns makes an impassioned case for reversing this rapid decline before we lose one of our public culture's greatest achievements. Burns begins by cutting through all-too-common misinformation about contemporary trials, reminding readers of its essential features and functions. These characteristics, he shows, resulted from a centuries-long process that brought trials to maturity only in the early twentieth century. As a practice that is adapted for modern times yet rooted in ancient wisdom, the trial is uniquely suited to balance the tensions-between idealism and reality, experts and citizens, contextual judgment and reliance on rules-that define American culture. Arguing that many observers make a grave mistake by taking a positive or even complacent view of the trial's demise, Burns concludes by laying out the catastrophic consequences of losing an institution that so perfectly embodies democratic governance. As one federal judge put it, the jury is the "canary in the mineshaft; if it goes, if our people lose their inherited right to do justice in court, other democratic institutions will lose breath too." The Death of the American Trial arrives not a second too soon to spark a rescue operation before trials are relegated to the purely fictional realm of televised drama.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Table of contents only
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: Inside the contemporary trial
2: Historical notes on the trial's importance
3: Fundamental tensions the trial defines
4: Decline and criticism
5: Meanings of the trial's death
Notes
Index.
Introduction
1: Inside the contemporary trial
2: Historical notes on the trial's importance
3: Fundamental tensions the trial defines
4: Decline and criticism
5: Meanings of the trial's death
Notes
Index.