What about when arraignment is heavily covered by the media? There were recently a group of men arrested in Australia on terrorism charges. They were brought to arraignment (or whatever the same process is called here) in orange jumpsuits and their pictures were splashed all over the news. There was heavy criticism of this because of the potential of tainting the jury pool.
If we think that jurors are so inept that they can be swayed by seeing a defendant taken to court for arraignment in prison wear then I think we need to basically abandon the entire jury system. At a certain point I think if we assume jurors are so stupid, maybe we shouldn’t use them at all.
In parts of Russia defendants sit in a cage throughout their trial (it’s cheaper than security guards. In Commonwealth countries the accused sit’s in a dock, isolated from counsel. Also in some jusrisdictions the accused doesn’t even leave the jail for arraignments; the whole thing is done by videophone.
PS Regarding courtroom attire for defendants; didn’t a juvenile court judge get in trouble for ordering a defendant to remove his t-shirt and pants because she found them offensive?
That’s no joke. That was the plot of A Few Good Naked Men.
Nothing that would stand up in court…
mm