Grand jury

Grand jury is a legal body empowered to conduct official proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may compel the production of documents and compel sworn testimony of witnesses to appear before it. Grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning.

United States and Liberia are the only countries that retain grand juries, even though some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most others employ some other form of preliminary hearing. Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions. Investigatory functions of grand juries include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence, and hearing sworn testimonies of witnesses who appear before it. Grand jury's accusatory function is to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons committed a certain offence within the venue of district court.

Grand jury in the United States is usually composed of 16 to 23 citizens, though in Virginia, it is composed of lesser numbers for regular or special grand juries. In Ireland, they also functioned as local government authorities. In Japan, Law of July 12, 1948 created the Kensatsu Shinsakai (Prosecutorial Review Commission or PRC system), inspired by the American system.

Grand jury is so named because traditionally it has greater number of jurors than trial jury, called a petit jury (from the French word petit meaning "small").

The function of a grand jury is to accuse persons who may be prima facie guilty of an offense, but the institution is also a shield against unfounded and oppressive prosecution. It is a means for lay citizens, representative of the community, to participate in the administration of justice. It can also make presentments on crime and maladministration in its area. The traditional number of the grand jury is 23.

The mode of accusation is by a written statement in solemn form (indictment) describing the offense with proper accompaniments of time and circumstances, and certainty of act and person or by a mode less formal, which is usually the spontaneous act of the grand jury, called presentment. No indictment or presentment can be made except by concurrence of at least twelve of the jurors. The grand jury may accuse upon their own knowledge, but it is generally done upon the testimony of witnesses under oath and other evidence heard before them. The proceedings of grand jury are, in the first instance, at the instigation of the government or other prosecutor, and ex parte and in secret deliberation. The accused has no knowledge nor right to interfere with their proceedings.

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