美国宪法的制订者们使大陪审团成为宪法修正案第五条的基本组成部分。①宪法规定的这项条款的目的是“保护公民不受无根据的控告,不论这种控告是来自政府,或者是由于党派感情或个人敌意所驱使。” 在过去的十年期间,美国的大陪审团受到的批评是,它不再是一个独立的机构,而仅仅是检察官的橡皮图章。尽管有这样的批评,大陪审团作为一个机构,由于有宪法上规定的牢 The makers of the U.S. constitution made grand juries an integral part of Article V of the constitutional amendment. The purpose of this constitutional provision is to “protect citizens against unwarranted charges, whether they come from the government or are driven by partisan or personal hostility.” Over the past decade the United States The grand jury was criticized for being no longer an independent agency but merely a rubber stamp for prosecutors. Despite such criticisms, grand jury as an institution, as a constitutional prison