But amid the din, the true perspective on what has occurred in most, if not all, of these cases has been lost. Remittitur, reversals, lesser settlements in an effort to avert timely and costly appeals, and defendants’ bankruptcies are just some of the real-life scenarios among the anecdotal accounts. Without close follow-up monitoring on these verdicts, the debate is intellectually dishonest and incomplete.

For example, look at one of the top verdicts of last year: $153.7 million in the case of a fired insurance agent in Alaska. The parties settled for $7.5 million, a mere fracture of the verdict.

Oftentimes, a jury tries to send a message through its verdict, as it did in the case of $907 million verdict to a Philadelphia family of a girl killed two decades ago by a onetime hippie guru. The verdict last year apparently was not meant to be collectible. It’s real purpose was to prevent the defendant–now a fugitive, living in the south of France while the United States effects extradition–roughly half the time–about 52%. Of those who received money damages, half got less than $35,000.

And punitive damages? They were awarded in only 5% of those cases examined.

In another recent study of courts in the nation’s 75 largest counties, conducted by the National Center for State Courts, it was found that only 364 of 762,000 cases ended in punitive damages–that’s 0.047%.

Jurors certainly have an awesome responsibility in criminal cases in deciding, sometimes, the life and death of a person. But the function of a jury in civil cases is evolving into a role beyond determining the rights of individuals. It is taking on an educational function as well, setting the standard, through its verdict, for acceptable conduct by negligent corporations in this country.

Another important reason for the jury system is that it ensures ordinary citizens a voice in their legal system. Trials serve a healing purpose of sorts for the victims and for all those who are impacted by the events at issue.

Juries make sense of it all, for through their verdicts, all of America speaks. There are few arenas in which ordinary citizens can command the attention of corporations whose decisions affect their everyday lives.

A jury’s presence can be a very powerful force.