In the US , jury has been accepted in its own criminal justice system ,or inherited its jury system from England .In 1635 ,the first grand jury was established in America.They based upon the same thought ,sharing the essence of jury ,such as ,they are made up of randomly selected individuals who listen to evidence ,they are eligible ,and so on .However ,some changes are necessary for Americans , of course. The constitution background is sixth amendments :”In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. “ and seventh amendment “In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.” However in fact petty offenses don’t have this right ,which means only defendants in felonies and most misdemeanors can own this right . In addition to these , a jury can constitutionally consist of as few as six, but in this condition, defendant can be convicted only if the jury is unanimous in favor of guilt . However ,the fact are different in different states ,in California ,unanimous verdicts of 12person jury are required in all criminal cases, but in other states, convictions based on 9 out of 12 jurors voting for a guilty verdict are constitutionally valid.
　　There are two kinds of jury in the US , grand juries and petit juries. In fact , UK has the two too, but after 1948, grand jury disappear (according to jiahong he’s essay in jurist　1999, 3rd).The two kinds of juries are used in different kinds of cases . Significant differences between them is that :Petit juries decide whether defendant are guilty ,grand juries decide whether to indict suspects (charge them with crimes ).Grand juries meet in secret proceedings , petit juries serve during public trials Grand juries have 15 to 23 people ,16 to 23 in federal courts ,by contrast , a petit jury usually consist of between 6 to 12 people. Petit juries generally have to be unanimous to convict a defendant ,grand juries need not be unanimous to indict . In the federal system , for example, an indictment may be returned if 12 or more jurors agree to indict.　　 However jury is declining both in UK and US. Though it has play an important role in “Watergate”, Simpson case ,etc ,and was commented as “safeguard of freedom”(Harry Kalven ,the American Jury ,The University of China Press ,1996, P.5),most people consider jury as a wasteful thing and an old custom which puts threaten to the　individual freedom.　It waste not time but also money . So in the long run ,jury would be abandon in the two nations, in my opinion.

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