But there’s a bigger issue, too: As Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School points out, the defining feature of laypeople is that they’re not experienced in what they’re being asked to do—and even worse, they are frequently biased in ways that would compromise their ability to make objective judgments. Richman argues that in order to be fair, the criminal justice system must treat like crimes alike—which is precisely why having a professional prosecutor keeping track of precedent and making decisions based on past practice is better than having random people come in off the street. Even Bowers concedes that a quick look at the distant past, when American grand juries were more powerful, underscores this concern: For every instance of a Northern jury refusing to indict an abolitionist for violating the Fugitive Slave Act, there was a Southern jury that refused to indict a white person facing charges of violence against a recently freed slave.