Most criminal cases in the U.S. never go to trial. Instead, the accused pleads guilty as part of a “plea bargain”. This saves an enormous amount of time and money, and reduces the number of judges, courtrooms, prosecutors, etc. needed in the justice system.
It also leads, in some cases, to miscarriages of justice – in both directions. That is, sometimes innocent people are pressured into pleading guilty to avoid the risk of long jail terms. Sometimes (more often, actually) guilty people are pleading to lesser charges than they're guilty of – putting us all at risk of their repeat offenses.
But, what if...every defendant decided to insist upon their right (granted by the Constitution) for a trial by a jury of their peers? Short answer: they'd crash the justice system, which doesn't have the resources to handle such a load...
Another interesting and thought-provoking read...
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