Are Verdicts, too, like Sausages?: Lifting the Cloak of Jury Secrecy

Abstract

This Comment argues that jury deliberations should be transcribed as part of the ordinary trial record and be subject to a limited judicial review. Such limited review is the proper way to mediate the conflict between two important political principles. On the one hand, there is a pragmatic need to accept some degree of imperfection in our political institutions and to permit such imperfection to 2 pass unexamined-hence the appeal of Bismarck's wry comment. On the other hand, meaningful self-government requires accountability of the government to the governed. Hence, the principle behind Bismarck's remark should be deeply troubling to any proponent of the democratic ideal, for that principle demands a degree of popular acquiescence to the conduct of government in secret, which is a step in the direction of government without the consent of the