Sold Out – In Conversation with the Rosenbach: Emily Bazelon on Federalist Paper No. 83

Federalist Paper No. 83 and Trial by Jury

The Framers loved juries. They put the right to trial by jury into the Constitution because “they were unwilling to trust the government” to mark it out, Justice Antonin Scalia has written. Today, fully 95 percent of state criminal cases that end in conviction are resolved without a jury, by guilty pleas. The same is true for about 90 percent of federal criminal cases. Why has the jury vanished, and without it, can our adversarial system render real justice?

This program is sponsored by Lenore Steiner and Perry Lerner and The Borowsky Family Foundation in memory of Irvin J. Borowsky.

About the speaker

Emily Bazelon wrote the national bestseller Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy. She is a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine and the Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School. She is also a frequent guest on The Colbert Report.

The Federalist Papers Mini-Series

230 years after The Federalist Papers were published, many of the constitutional debates raised by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay remain urgent today. Focusing on a single paper from this collection, legal experts will guide a group conversation about what these ideas mean for American democracy in 2018.

Seating is limited; advance registration is strongly recommended.

In the event of inclement weather, the Rosenbach will announce any closures on rosenbach.org. Please call 215-732-1600 x0 if you have questions about program status.