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Article: Starr chambers: the problem with grand juries. (special prosecutor Kenneth Starr's call for a federal grand jury)(Of Several Minds)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- September 25, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Since Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr's use of the federal grand jury has the nation's attention at the moment, now is a good time to reflect on this ancient but little-understood political institution. With their deep distrust of prosecutorial abuse, the framers of the Constitution had intended the grand jury to stand between the accused and the prosecutor. Like the crown's attorney, the American prosecutor would not be able to prosecute anyone for a felony before a grand jury had heard and judged charges based on "information known personally to its members," in historian Leonard Levy's words.
The framers enshrined this protection against improper ...