How Does Jury Selection Work?
Written by Mila Long
Legal cases are decided by people, everyday people, called juries. This leaves open room for great human error, as people carry internalized biases and can not always act and choose without influence. However, juries play an incredibly important role in the function of the justice system as they decide the verdict, or end result, of a case. Therefore, the picking of a jury is a long event where lawyers must use psychology and human understanding to carefully select a relatively unbiased group. It is an arduous process that requires the work of many people beyond just a lawyer, such as a jury consultant. Jury consultants are typically used only for high profile cases. They advise the lawyers during the process to ensure that the biases of one juror will not cause the entire case to sway in the opposite direction. The concept of jury selection is like a scale, too many people selected with the belief in one side and it will tilt and favor that side. However some jurors, specifically leaders, can sway the case a greater amount. It begins by randomly selecting many people from within the location, and these people are given a summons to identify them and tell them where they need to go. Being sent a jury summons does not mean that they will become a juror for the case. Lawyers and jury consultants narrow down the large group until around twelve people, and additional alternate jurors in case there are problems, are selected. The number of jurors varies depending on the type of trial and the state it takes place in. This process is called voir dire, or to speak the truth.
After the summons are sent out, the people alerted for potential jury duty must meet certain qualifications. This includes but is not limited to being within the courts jurisdiction, meaning the location and extent of what the court can rule over and not having committed a felony. Once the large group of potential jury members arrive at the court, voir dire begins. This process is when lawyers on both sides of the case question the potential jurors. Questions are asked to determine impartiality, meaning whether the jurors have any personal biases that could cause them to be unable to have an open mind about the facts that are presented to them. Some questions that may be asked are whether the juror has any relation to a party of the trial, whether their prior experience impacts their current view about important parts of the case in a skewed manner, or whether they have prior involvement or information about the case. When the lawyers ask these questions they are specific, so that the juror answering can not change their answer to influence whether or not they will be selected for the trial. Voir dire and the questions asked here are essential to ensuring that justice is blind and that the verdict will appear impartial for the case at hand.
How does such a large group of jurors narrow down? How do the lawyers and consultants make the choices to cut certain jurors? Voir dire and jury selection is one very strategic game and the end result is the verdict. Due to this, jury selection becomes a part of the trial that can and often will determine the verdict immediately. There are two methods for eliminating potential jurors. Lawyers can remove jurors if they thoroughly prove to the judge that the juror will be partial or unfair in deciding the case. Each lawyer also gets a certain number of strikes, or people they can remove without giving a cause. Therefore, lawyers must carefully debate on which jurors should be striked if they can not remove them on cause. Jury consultants are vital for this reason, to figure out and evaluate how juries will vote within the verdict.
Jury selection is an incredibly important part of the trial process that defines the way a trial pans out. This is why it is essential to learn and comprehend the process of voir dire. This component of the law deals heavily with human psychology and strategy in determining which jurors to strike. The law is a uniquely human profession meaning it is argued by humans, decided by humans, and changed by humans. The concept of voir dire, or to speak the truth, is thus an essential element towards eliminating human error and bias.
