Right To Twelve Jurors

The law states that under the Sixth Amendment, any criminal prosecution where the length of the sentence is greater than six months, the defendant has a right to a twelve-person jury (Ingram, 2009). Therefore, in federal criminal cases, the right to a trial by jury does require twelve jurors. However, under special circumstances, twelve jurors are not always required to make a decision. These special circumstances are granted by the judge that is assigned to the case and he or she can decide whether or not fewer than twelve jurors are appropriate for a given situation.
That being said, there are some instances in which fewer than twelve jurors are needed to make a decision. For example, when making a unanimous decision within the federal court, eleven jurors can make the decision if the parties agree that by having one less juror, they can still reach a conclusion (Ingram, 2009). Another instance where less than twelve jurors is approved within the federal court is when the judge permits eleven for good cause (“Rule 23, 2011”). In federal civil cases there can be six to twelve jurors (Rowe, 2013). Of course the
As I said above, both state and federal proceedings grant an individual a trial by jury. However, as several cases have determined, a jury of twelve persons is not required. In the case of Williams v. Florida (1970), the court approved the a six-person jury. Then in the case of Brown v. Louisiana (1980), the supreme court ruled that under the Sixth Amendment jury can consist of 6-12 jurors, as long as the decision is unanimous (Ingram, 2009). If the decision of the six-person jury is not unanimous then it will not be approved; therefore, it will not meet the requirements of the Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury. It is believed that a jury less than six persons will not allow for a proper deliberation and the decision may be based on