2007 Fellowship Program fellows

The Constitutional Right to a Jury Trial: Contributing to the Process of Armenia’s Democratization?

Tigran Harutyunyan will study the potential advantages and challenges of introducing jury trials for crimes in Armenia. The researcher intends to compare Armenia with other countries with jury trials; carry out a quantitative survey among various population groups to study their perceptions and general awareness of the institution; interview scholars and attorneys, prosecutors and judges. Furthermore, the researcher will investigate the extent to which the jury trial system could decrease the level of corruption in the judiciary, thus, advancing the process of democratization in Armenia. The results of this study may be of great interest to all branches of the Government of Armenia, particularly to the judiciary, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Prosecutor. In addition, the findings of this research may be of interest to the Bar Association of Armenia, other legal practitioners and NGOs. In addition to publishing a peer-reviewed article, the researcher also plans to prepare manuals to explain the pros and cons of introducing the jury trial system in Armenia and organize public presentations, seminars and courses to have a broader public policy impact.

E-mail: [email protected]