The Atlantic: The Trauma of Jury Service

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/the-trauma-of-jury-duty/393479/?google_editors_picks=true

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Jurors witness horror on a regular basis. At the close of the Boston Marathon bombing trial, prosecutors pulled out the clothing and possessions of eight-year old victim Martin Richard. Item by item the last shreds of a boys’ life were introduced in excruciating detail—a bloody jersey, bomb-melted shorts, metal, wood, and the devastating shrapnel that tore the breath away from a smiling child. The jurors wept openly in court.

How should jurors—ordinary citizens doing extraordinary duty—cope with this emotional toll? How should courts respond? While the facts in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial were more difficult than most, confronting tragic loss, disfiguring injury, and death remains a routine part of jury service in America.
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I've been a juror in three criminal cases and can say that it is stressful to have another's fate in your hands, whether the ultimate verdict is guilty or not.