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The Leavitt Institute for International Development is grateful that you are willing to give of yourself and your resources to aid in the legal development of Ukraine. The Ukraine Constitution grants a right to a trial by jury. Trial by jury is more than merely a mechanism for determining whether someone is guilty or innocent. It is the power, retained by a free people, to determine who will lose freedom and who will not. Without the jury, the government and not the people are empowered to make such a determination.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the American Declaration of Independence expressed it in this manner: "I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution."

The Leavitt Institute assists Ukraine in bringing to reality the important human rights protections enumerated in the Constitution of Ukraine and made available through a trial by jury. The Ukrainian Constitution provides guarantees for the presumption of innocence, the right to counsel, and jury trials. However, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and Ukrainian custom does not recognize these important human rights. Because of this disparity, criminal defendants are frequently not provided counsel and the presumption of innocence is not observed. A jury trial as never occurred in Ukraine, despite the constitutional guarantee.

Through our Ukrainian projects, The Leavitt Institute seeks to bring the criminal procedure code and Ukrainian custom in harmony with the Ukrainian Constitution, believing that doing so will allow for jury trials, the presumption of innocence, and the right to counsel, thus providing stability to the rule of law. Your involvement in educating Ukrainian law students regarding the jury trial is a vital element of our efforts to introduce the jury trial into Ukraine.