A Foothold for Real Democracy in Eastern Europe: How Instituting Jury Trials in Ukraine Can Bring About Meaningful Governmental and Juridical Reforms and Can Help Spread These Reforms Across Eastern Europe

I. Introduction A judicial system in which bribes are welcome, rather than banned or frowned upon, is difficult to imagine, particularly in light of the prohibitions placed on such conduct in the United States. 1 Yet, such a system is currently in place in Ukraine. 2 The lack of a jury system has likely contributed to this corruption. 3 Ukraine has never held a single criminal or civil jury trial 4 despite the fact that the right to a jury trial, at least in criminal cases, is guaranteed by its Constitution. 5 This Article argues that Ukraine can and should make room for juries in its judicial system and proposes a framework for both criminal and civil jury trial implementation. Although the use of juries will not remedy all the problems plaguing Ukraine, it can bring the country closer to achieving a truly democratic 6 form of government. 7 Additionally, other former Soviet republics, especially those that closely resemble Ukraine in terms of their economic, political, and cultural characteristics, could learn and benefit from Ukraine's experience. The implementation of jury trials in Ukraine is particularly important because the country, "once considered a worldwide symbol of an emerging, free-market democracy that had cast off authoritarianism, is teetering. And its predicament poses a real threat for other European economies and former Soviet republics." 8 Ukraine - widely considered "a linchpin for stability in Europe" 9 - has a population of "46 million people and a highly strategic ...