grand jury

/ɡrænd ˈʤʊri/

Other forms: grand juries

When someone is charged with a crime, a grand jury is a group that decides whether there's enough evidence to hold a trial.

A trial jury hears testimony, considers evidence, and delivers a verdict, while a grand jury decides whether there should be a trial at all. The first grand juries convened in medieval England. They were once nearly universal, but only Liberia and the U.S. still use them. Preliminary hearings, when a judge decides if there’s enough evidence for a trial, are more common today. A grand jury is grand not because it is majestic but because it has more jurors than a trial jury.

Definitions of grand jury

1. noun

   a jury to inquire into accusations of crime and to evaluate the grounds for indictments
   type of:

   jury

   a body of citizens sworn to give a true verdict according to the evidence presented in a court of law