Juries are better than trial by combat. But that’s it. Otherwise, any impartial examination of the jury system and the adversarial prosecutor/defense attorney system makes it clear this is an abysmal approach to criminal justice. It’s only because we humans are so simple-minded and so reluctant to try anything new that we continue with the charade decade after decade. It’s not difficult to engineer far more adequate approaches, but… we’re too simple-minded to make the effort.