Excusing Peremptory Challenges: A Critique of Modern Jury Selection

Peremptory challenges have had a long history in the Courts of England and the United States. Multiple different types of demographics are frequently and indefensibly exploited during this process of jury selection including race, gender, age, religion, and criminal history. For any given defendant, the obstruction of a fair jury based on any of these challenged demographics results in a violation of the defendant's rights under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and also the Equal Protections Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. However unclear the purpose of the peremptory challenge process, there are solutions that very likely could result in fairer juries and fewer discriminatory legal practices. One such solution would be the discontinuance of peremptory challenges entirely.