First of all, it is not allowed to choose people related to the case, including those related to the plaintiff or the defendant. In the primary jury selection, in order to be fair and make the jury truly represent the people in the most general sense, the judge will randomly choose from the voting list or telephone book of the election station. In the once sensational Simpson case, the jury selected 304 candidates in the primary election, because after the primary election, there was a strict screening, mainly to eliminate some candidates who were psychologically inclined due to environment and experience, and to avoid possible unfair judgments.
In addition to the judge's review, jury candidates are also subject to the review of defense lawyers and prosecutors, who have veto power over jury candidates. In addition, the lawyers' teams of both sides only have veto power, and any selected juror must be recognized by both sides at the same time.
Only 12 jurors and 12 alternate jurors are needed. From beginning to end, alternate jurors participate in court trial activities together with formal jurors. Whenever a juror leaves for some reason, there will always be a substitute on it. Once all the candidates are exhausted and anyone has to quit, the trial may fail because of the shortage of jurors, and everything will start over.
In general, jurors can usually go home. However, if the case causes a sensation, they must be isolated. In this way, all the information they get is evidence that is allowed to be presented in court, and their judgment will not be affected by press speculation and illegal evidence. Jurors have known far less information than the public since they were sworn in. What they are allowed to know is limited to what the judge can let them hear and see. Jurors can't read newspapers or TV news, so they don't know anything about what happened outside the court, such as the press conference held by defense lawyers and the statements of the victims' families.
During this time, jurors went to the grocery store to buy food, and they were followed by bailiffs to ensure that they were not in contact with the outside world. Jurors are not allowed to communicate and discuss cases with each other until the whole case is over and handed over to them for decision. In short, everything is to protect them from all kinds of emotions and non-evidence to maintain a fair judgment. It can be said that during this period, the freedom of jurors is even smaller than that of suspects in this case.
The jury system in the United States is also controversial. This seems to be the weakest link in the American judicial system. Jurors are randomly selected, and people come from all walks of life, with different races and colors, regardless of occupation, knowledge and culture. In America, the most powerful is the legal team. Why do you want to find a group of "laymen" to be "judges above judges"? In the United States, all people who understand and agree with this system never think it is a perfect system, but they can't find a better system. It's like what Americans sometimes joke about: If we don't compare the jury system with other countries' systems, it's really terrible. Jefferson, the third president of the United States, believes that the jury system plays a more important role than the right to vote in maintaining democracy.
Of course, the jury system has obvious weaknesses. All "rule by law" will be confused by "rule by man", and "people" will participate in the initial legislation, trial and final judgment. The design of jury system thinks that if everything is clear and obvious, the intelligence of ordinary people is enough to make judgments. Americans insist on using the jury system because jurors are the least manipulated and controlled by anyone.
Jurors are independent of the government, the judicial system and any political forces. Their judgment is the judgment that ordinary people will make under the provisions of the law on juries. They can be on call, and the court keeps them secret, so that they have no psychological burden. As long as they don't want to show their faces, they will never be known by the people around them. Of course, there is a basic condition that this society is free and ordinary people are not subject to any control.