Abstract
As a result of the obvious discrepancies and conflicts among the three reports concerning the Kent State incident, the U.S. Department of Justice was reported to have been considering whether the convening of a federal grand jury was necessary) Additionally, Robert I. White, President of Kent State University at the time of the tragedy, the Kent State faculty and student senates, and the Kent State graduate-student council expressed a need for and re- quested the empaneling of a federal grand jury. To date, none has been convened nor has there been any indication that one will be called in the future. Regardless of one's personal views as to which of the three reports comes to the correct conclusions about the events which took place at Kent State University, the fact remains that the Ohio grand jury report contradicts the others. A federal grand jury might alay those contradictions, but one has not been convened. These considerations, then, raise a recurring issue which has been debated within the legal and political communities for years: whether or not the grand jury system in the United States is a viable institution within the framework of modern justice.
Recommended Citation
Note, American Grand Jury: Investigatory and Indictment Powers, 22 Clev. St. L. Rev. 136 (1973)