Grand Juries

In about half of the states, it is i possible to bring a person accused a felony to trial without an indictment* by a grand jury. In the other half the states, this procedure is rarely or never employed; and those accused of felonies can be brought to trial on information /-by a prosecuting attorney (as in Minnesota) or (as in Michigan) by an indictment returned by a single judge who, by a recent Michigan law is empowered to investigate an alleged crime with the authority of a grand jury.

The latest issue of the Journal of American Judicature Society, under the heading The Grand Jury --a Venerable Nuisance, contains a severe editorial criticism of the grand jury system. Quoting from an article by one Eugene Stevenson (8 Journal of Criminal Law 715), it says: "The grand jury works in secret and therefore very few intelligent critics can see enough of the operation to appreciate how rude, clumsy and inefficient it is. It is the largest most ignorant, most irresponsible ,and oftentimes most partisan tribunal known to our law, and it sits and adjudicates with closed doors."

History. The grand jury is one of the most ancient English legal institutions. It is probable that at first it not only accused but also tried public offenders. When America was settled however, it had become an informing and accusing body without whose previous action no person charged with a felony, except in certain very special cases, could be put on trial. It has always been considered a means of protecting the citizen against unfounded accusations whether "directed by the Government or prompted by partisan passion or private enmity." The effort in many communities is to have grand jury panel made up of leading citizens and to have inclusion in rolls a mark of honor. In most states the substitution of an information by a public official for an indictment a grand jury requires an of amendment the state constitution.

*An indictment is a declaration by a grand jury that a certain person has committed certain crime.

/- An information is a declaration by a duly authorized officer (e.g., an attorney general or district attorney) that a certain person has committed a certain crime.