Leave it to the jury
I'm on my way to Austin, Texas (a GREAT town) to attend a court technology conference and had a chance to browse my jury management e-newsletter while I'm awaiting connections here at SFO. Like so many aspects of life and work, everything seems to have become so complicated. Managing juries is no different. Here are a few of the emerging trends that affect your ability go be judged by a jury of your peers ...
THE CSI EFFECT
In the old days, juries were affected by television to the extent that the Perry Mason series led the public to believe confessions routinely occurred from the courtroom audience. Nowadays, the TV-effect comes from the proliferation of Crime Scene Investigation shows that delve into scientific minutiae in order to detect who-dun-it. As a result, a growing number of juries are acquitting defendants because prosecutors are not introducing scientific evidence on the form of fiber analysis, DNA, ballistics, fingerprints and more. The reality is that most crimes do not involve forensic evidence, and the cost for extensive lab work is prohibitive, rendering scientific evidence to only those cases where it is really needed.
THE CONNECTED JUROR
To be sure, the Internet impacts all aspects of our lives and juries are no different. My company issues annual Top 10 Court Website Awards and many of the recipients are recognized because they offer excellent online jury services such as orientation, check-in, postponement, and even the ability to print out parking and bus passes. Of course, the increasing use of Internet-based jury management leads to the question of who is left out, especially when the end game is to find the widest cross section of a community as possible. Austin, Texas (naturally), has taken this concept seriously and actually calls theirs the I-jury. They claim that their community demographics insofar as access to the Internet has enabled them to maintain racial, economic and gender diversity.
THE MEDDLING JUROR
I previously wrote about blogging jurors and the difficulties associated when there is too much jury connectivity. People are strange creatures who do strange things from time to time, and juries are no different. Nonetheless, jurors are not supposed to conduct independent experiments to test the validity of testimony, nor are they supposed to conduct independent research by "Googling" on their smart phones inside the jury deliberation room.
Sometimes technology and culture enhance the jury experience and sometimes it hinders our ability to provide fair, equal and accessible justice. Staying on top of it all is the challenge.
Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com
Photo credit = Jury Duty (1995) with Pauly Shore