After killings by police, a debate over grand jury secrecy
For centuries, grand juries have held some of the criminal justice system’s best-kept secrets. But their private process has come under extraordinary public scrutiny after recent decisions not to indict police officers in the deaths of unarmed men.
Calls for more transparency have sounded in Congress, statehouses and editorial pages, mixed with notes of caution about forswearing secrecy that can safeguard witnesses and the accused.
The debate has “been more exposed in the last three months than ever,” says Robert Weisberg, a Stanford University law professor who specializes in criminal justice.