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> There are functioning democracies out there without jury trials.

Could you name a few? I'm genuinely ignorant on how most of the world handles criminal affairs - do they just have the judge rule on the matter?

A lot of public law jurisdictions don’t have jury trials, just a judge who decides the facts based on the constitution and the case presented by the prosecutor. Finland, for example.

In South Africa there are no juries, and the democracy is deemed fairly good, albeit rotten with corruption (but that's another story). The judiciary is fairly independent so far, and criminal cases are solely tried by a professional judge.

Right. In fact, AFAIK only a handful of countries have a jury, which are mainly ex british colonies. Almost everywhere else there is constitution and so.

The Us has small claims courts right?