In spite of its flaws, the American judicial system remains a truly democratic institution, touching the lives of citizens in every walk of life-including journalists. For Reporter-Researcher Alain Sanders, who has a law degree from Columbia University Law School, the call to jury duty came at a particularly inopportune, if apt, moment. Sanders was called by both the New York State and federal courts while in the midst of checking this week's cover story on the U.S. jury system. A former New York City attorney, Sanders claimed an exemption on the grounds that he was actively engaged in reporting and researching the law, even though the exclusion clause technically applies only to practicing lawyers. Says Sanders: "I would love to have served, but as a lawyer and journalist I would probably never have been allowed to sit on a jury. If they accept my excuse-as it seems they have-I doubt I'll ever be asked again."

Washington Correspondent Evan Thomas found that his own background in law was a definite asset when interviewing lawyers and jurors in the capital. Thomas, who got his law degree from the University of Virginia and wrote TIME's Law section from 1978 to 1979, was struck as he observed a local murder trial by "how emotionally racking jury duty can be for those who serve. One woman juror on the case burst into tears when it was all over." Correspondent Jay Branegan, who logged four years as a court reporter in Illinois before joining TIME in June, visited those at the other end of a jury's guilty verdict-convicts in some of the state's toughest prisons. Correspondent Barbara Dolan, who spoke with jurors, lawyers and judges at the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, was impressed with jurors' commitment to justice: "With a few exceptions, they seem to work very hard, and most lawyers and judges seem to accept their verdicts. Nobody wants to think they have made a mistake."

Senior Writer Otto Friedrich, who wrote the story, is also well acquainted with the workings of the law. Friedrich edited TIME's Law section from 1971 to 1973 and from 1975 to 1978, and wrote about politics and the law for last February's American Renewal issue. Says he: "Trial by jury is perhaps the only time when ordinary citizens are given the intimate details of a person's life-and then given the authority to make a binding judgment." Adds Sanders:

"Most law cases are basically a matter of simple common sense. The truth is that most people can make those common-sense judgments just as well as lawyers and judges."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.