Inaccurate View of the Legal System Essay -- Law Jury System

Although often interpreted differently by individuals, legal rights, human rights and the jury system are essential features of the legal system. Nielsen believes that the main purpose of rights is to protect individuals, while Hajjar portrays the objective of the legal system as recognizing and respecting certain inherent human rights. Further, Dooley understands the jury system as essential for ensuring a democratic and fair trial procedure. As rights and the jury system are viewed according to these varying objectives, it seems there is a general assumption that the legal system is intended to protect individuals from the power of the government. However, individuals’ abstract idea of how the law works can be contrary to the actual workings of the legal system. Rights and the jury system create the expectation in people that they will be protected from the power of the government, and yet these expectations often remain unfulfilled, creating a disconnect between the idea of protection and the reality of the legal system. In her article â€Å"The Work of Rights and the Work Rights Do,† Laura Beth Nielsen asserts that â€Å"legal rights are important for protecting individual autonomy and resisting the arbitrary or tyrannical imposition of state power† (Nielsen 63). In the case of traditionally disadvantaged groups, rights have provided a sense of power as a direct result of their nature. Nielsen explains, â€Å"’Rights’ are said to apply equally to everyone, they are ‘neutral,’ and are backed by the legitimate authority of law and the state,† and that â€Å"Rights are often thought of as naturally inhering in persons† (66, 68). Because many minority groups view rights as inalienable, absolute, and supported by the government, they... ...ermining the very ideal that rights seem to stand for. The inconsistency between expectations and individuals’ lived experiences seems to show that rights and the jury system are fundamental to our democratic society, but only when the government feels they should be so. Works Cited MLA Citation Dooley, Laura Gaston. â€Å"Our Juries, Our Selves: The Power, Perception and Politics of the Civil Jury.† Before the Law: An Introduction to the Legal Process. Ed. John J. Bonsignore., et. al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. pp. 450-453. Hajjar, Lisa. â€Å"Human Rights.† Reader: 55-62. Margulies, Joseph. â€Å"A Prison Beyond the Law.† The Virginia Quarterly Review. Reader: 119-128. Nielsen, Laura Beth. â€Å"The Work of Rights and the Work Rights Do: A Critical Approach.† Reader: 45-79. Toyosaburo Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S, 214 (1944). Reader: 91-102.