Juries are fundamental to our adversarial criminal justice process and Essay

Juries are fundamental to our adversarial criminal justice process and the only real guarantee of fairness between the State (as prosecutor) and the Individual - Essay Example In the case of a trial by jury, a decision is rendered by a group of nine individuals who may be drawn from different backgrounds, thereby bringing a depth of understanding of problems that single judges may not possess. According to Janata, â€Å"it is the mix of different persons with different backgrounds and psychological traits in the jury room that produces the desired results.† (Janata, 1976: 595-596). This feature may imbue juries with a greater ability to discern and make accurate determinations about the credibility of witnesses and the validity of arguments being offered, especially in criminal trials, especially because a jury is able to evaluate witnesses, plaintiffs and defendants from their perspective as ordinary citizens. Judges may sometimes get mired in the legal formalities and procedures to such an extent it may impede their intuitive judgments. There is also a greater possibility of bias arising when a single judge makes a decision on a case, particularly when it is a criminal case. In the case of a jury trial, the decision rendered is the cumulative effect of group deliberation, after the input and reflections from the different members comprising the jury are assimilated. Hence, a jury has the advantage of collective recall and weighing up of factors impacting upon a case. Since each fact is explored and discussed in a group, it allows a group scrutiny where bias is more likely to be eliminated than in the case of a single Judge. Jury trials have been advocated as an effective measure to bring justice to citizens, especially in criminal trials where jurors are believed to be better able to make assessments and judgments about character and believability of witnesses. Gastill and Weiser (2006) argue in favor of jury trials on the basis that being a part of a jury can spur greater levels of civil engagement from juror citizens and thereby provide a spur for real, deliberative democracy. While jurors do not make policy decisions, the

Resource Estimates and Budgets Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Resource Estimates and Budgets - Research Paper Example The following discussion will emphasize each activity in terms of its time and cost resources and identify the variances as a result of differences in the baseline and actual performance. Planning Planning activity is the first activity of the project in which 15 days were specified as baseline duration. Due to efficient utilization of time, the project team completed this activity in just 12 days sparing 3 days for the next activity to be commenced. In terms of cost resources, the project team managed to save $4,000 in respect of material cost whereas the company had to pay extra $2,000 for the wages to the labor. Overall, the company performed better and managed to save both time and cost resources. Development This was the biggest activity for the project team in terms of both time and cost resources such that the baseline duration for this activity was kept for 44 days and total cost estimates were reserved for around $55,000. This activity also went successful such that the proj ect team saved 4 days as well as $4,500 on overall basis. Testing After the development, the next activity was the testing of the product which had been developed at the previous stage. Baseline resources for this activity included 10 days of duration and $27,000 in terms of total cost. Since the previous two activities saved around 7 days in total, therefore, the testing activity took more time and underwent with serious stress testing procedures. In this whole practice, the project time consumed around 15 days and spent around $27,000. Overall, the activity could not perform up to the mark in terms of both time and cost estimates. Commercial Viability Testing activity led the project to the commercial viability of the product such that the product was experienced by different types of consumers and analysts to check how the product is perceived. Baseline resources in terms of time and cost were set to be 15 days and $37,000 respectively. The overall activity completed in 13 days s aving 2 more days, but the company had to pay the extra cost $3000 for this activity. Branding The moment commercial viability was affirmed by the project team and it was decided that the product was ready for its commercial production and launch in the market, the branding activity took place such that effective marketing and advertising campaigns were launched by the project team. Around 21 days were kept as the baseline period for the completion of this activity and $20,000 were specified as the cost of this activity. Project team almost completed the activity in 20 days with 1 day to spare but, on the other hand, incurred around $21,500 showing an adverse variance of $1,500. Product Launch Actual product launch was the last activity of this project and only 5 days were specified for the completion of this activity, but the activity actually took around 10 days utilizing the previous 5 slack days. In terms of cost estimates, the activity was assigned around $20,000 on overall bas is. However, the activity underperformed in this activity as well and incurred around $4,000 in excess of the baseline cost of $20,000. Conclusion Overall, the project remained partially successful in achieving its desired results such that time resources have been utilized effectively as the project team managed to