How does the criminal justice system go through choosing the jury during specific cases and are they prejudice on choosing people depending on the person being convicted?  

Christopher Carbuccia

 John Jay College of Criminal Justice

English 101 FY05

 Professor Olivia Wood

December 4, 2019

Abstract

In this paper, I will be writing about the process of selecting a juror for a trial, whether or not their race affects whether or not they are chosen, and the effects of jury duty on the jurors. Many times lawyers use something called a peremptory strike to eliminate a juror from being on the jury for trial just because their race or nationality is in resemblance to the person being convicted. This is absolutely wrong because the “peremptory strikes” are only supposed to be used if the juror shows bias signs, shows that doesn’t he/she doesn’t care about the trial, and so forth. The process to become a juror is a long process that can last one to two days and can involve being asked many questions that may get annoying after a while. Based on the research I found, serving as a juror can cause problems such as exposure to graphic materials, a manifestation of fear and avoidance, the burden of responsibility, harm from isolation, sleeplessness, anxiety, and etc. In my opinion, jury duty seems like a very long and annoying responsibility that one may have to complete if selected to do and it can take a toll on people mentally and physically.

   The topic I chose to do my research on was criminal justice. I wanted to dive deeper into the system and learn more about the jury system and how it works. A jury is a group of people (usually 12) who have sworn under oath to give their verdict in a courtroom based on the evidence given to them during the trial. Their verdict can either be: guilty or not guilty, it truly depends on how each juror feels about the evidence and arguments that are presented to them. A juror’s decision can determine the fate of whether or not the defendant (person being accused of a crime) is guilty or non-guilty and whether or not a prosecutor or the defender (lawyers) lose that trial. Ultimately, the main question I will be speaking about and answering is: How does the criminal justice system go through choosing the jury during specific cases and are they prejudice on choosing people depending on the person being convicted? Before doing my research I decided to come up with a hypothesis regarding what I thought the answer to this question might be. My hypothesis was that lawyers don’t like losing cases because I’m sure they feel like it’s a waste of time and it looks bad on them no matter the case so when they see a juror who appears to look as if they won’t be on their side they obviously wouldn’t mind not having that person in the jury.

         The process for the selection of a jury is a very long process that must be done for various reasons. One reason why the process of the court selecting jurors for the jury is an important process is because they want to make sure that the juror won’t accept any bribes from the person being prosecuted and that they won’t be bias or prejudice just because of the defendants color, race, ethnicity, family background, and etc. The call to be part of the juror is typically by random selection and it is not something you can volunteer to do, you must be called to do it. In most cases, this “random pool” of which jurors are selected includes a list of voter registration polls and a  driver’s license database. There are some requirements to even qualify as a juror. Some of these requirements consist of the following: You must be 18 years old, you must be a resident of the state and country that they ask you to serve as a juror, you must be adequately proficient in English, you must be physically and mentally able to serve as a juror, and the person must not be a convicted felon. 

      When you are called to the jury there will typically be about 24- 60 other potential jurors with you. This is called a juror panel, each juror will have a number attached to them so that both the lawyers and the judge will be able to identify you by that number. After the jurors get their appointed number, the jurors will be in a courtroom and the judge and the lawyers will present themselves. The judge will basically just make sure all of the jurors reach all of the qualifications to become a juror and the lawyers will tell the jurors a little bit more about the case. After this introduction the lawyers will ask the jurors a set of questions, they have about an hour to do so. This process is called voir dire, voir dire is a French term which means “to speak the truth”.  The whole purpose of this process is just to determine which potential jurors have a bias that might make a different trial more suitable for them. This bias has nothing to do with age, race or religion but a bias based on prior life experiences that the potential juror has been through in his/her past. The lawyers will ask questions designed to learn about the potential jurors’ biases, life experience and the thought processes of what goes on throughout their mind.

      Although, there are a few ways a juror can end up not being on trial anymore and not having to serve jury duty. A juror can either be struck with two things: a peremptory strike and a “cause”. A peremptory strike is a strike that can be used basically any reason the lawyer pleases. If the lawyer may not like the juror’s enthusiasm about the case, their eye contract or etc, they are allowed to use this strike. Keep in mind, the peremptory strike may not be used for anything such as race, religion, gender, and etc. In a felony jury trial, each side gets 10 peremptory strikes. The strike of “cause” is different though, the strike of cause is typically used when the lawyer feels as if the juror cannot or will not follow a certain aspect of the law. People believe that peremptory strikes in the past and even now in the present have been used solely based on the jurors’ relationship or color/ race with the defendant. I think that this statement is a true statement for the following reason that when a juror is the same color/race of the defendant the prosecutor (lawyer against defender) might believe that he/she might be biased towards the defendant because of the relationship he/she might have related to or have sympathetic feelings towards. In the article (Wright, R 2018) the author talks about his/her research on the selection of jury duty and how there the court states that there is no “blind eye” when the selection of choosing jurors is happening. Then the author seemed to disagree with this statement of the courtroom not having a “blind eye” during the election or jurors so he decided to find out some information for himself. The author found out that based on a statewide jury selection record, prosecutors remove 20% of African Americans are removed whereas only 10% of whites are removed. Meanwhile, defense attorneys removed 22% white jurors and 10% African American jurors. About 90% of jurors of color were struck with peremptory strikes. This information does not only show that there is a sort of racial discrimination when it comes to select jurors for cases but that there is a high level of unfairness for defendants who are colored. The reason I believe there is a high level of unfairness for defendants of color is because they are most likely gonna go into a courtroom where the jurors are primarily white and I’m not saying all the jurors will but some will be a bias towards the defendant because of his/her race, background, color, ethnicity, and etc. 

     Becoming a juror or even going through that process and then once being selected to actually being a juror for a trial is a very long and for some a very traumatic process. When you are a juror you see a lot of things in trial and some of the things can be unforgettable. Based on the article I read (Ruth Lee Johnson, 2015) the cons of being a juror consist of the following: exposure to graphic materials, a manifestation of fear and avoidance, the burden of responsibility, harm from isolation, sleeplessness, anxiety, and etc. Now all these cons can be quite detrimental to someone’s life and how they see and perceive things after they are done serving and the trial is done. Exposure to graphic materials is a huge con in my opinion because if it a trial of someone who is being convicted for murder, the photos of seeing someone who is deceased can be very discouraging and it an image that can be very hard for someone to forget. A manifestation of fear and avoidance has to do with the juror seeing something in that trial that scared them so bad, that now they have a fear of doing anything or going anywhere near something that resembles it. ( Ruth Lee Johnson, 2015) In one study, 29% of jurors reported specifically avoiding doing things that would remind them of their time on the jury.  This information shows that when you a juror certain things from that trail will trigger unpleasant memories that you occur in your outside life. The burden of responsibility takes a huge toll on people. Jurors are given a lot of responsibility and are expected so much during the time they serve on jury duty. The feeling a juror may feel of making the decision with whether or not the defendant or guilty or not or the feeling a juror may feel of whether they made the right decision or not can really take a toll on jurors mentally. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to be a juror because I would feel bad not knowing 1000% if the defendant was guilty or not and I wouldn’t feel right knowing that my decision on whether or not the defendant is guilty or not guilty can affect the lives of other people. Harm from isolation is a big feeling because when you are a juror during the case you are typically not allowed to talk to anyone outside of the court about this case. You are not allowed to share out your emotions on the trail and that can lead to stress because you have no one to talk too. Overall the process of being a juror has numerous amount of effects on one’s mental stability. 

 CONCLUSION: 

Based on the research I did, the jury process is a process that is very time consuming and a process that can be very detrimental to some physically and emotionally. I learned that in court there is racial discrimination involved. I feel like this is unfair to everyone who is being convicted of a crime or a felony because they are not getting a fair trial and their life is basically put on the line. I feel like the only way to lessen the chance of someone being stuck and not be able to serve as a juror is to limit the number of peremptory strikes that a lawyer is allowed to use. I feel like instead of 10 the limit for the number of peremptory strikes that can be used against a juror should be 5. I feel like this will help reduce the use of peremptory strikes based on the juror’s resemblance of race or color to the defendant.  How would you feel if you were on trial and the jury was biased against you just because of your color? 

       Sources:

1. Streicker, S. (2015, August 17). Jury Selection in Criminal Cases. Retrieved from https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/jury-selection-criminal-cases.html.  
2.  Wright, R. (2018, December 4). Yes, Jury Selection Is as Racist as You Think. Now We Have Proof. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/opinion/juries-racism-discrimination-prosecutors.html. 
3.  Kendall, G. (2015, April 1). 9 Things Lawyers Look for When Picking a Jury. Retrieved from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62514/9-things-lawyers-look-when-picking-jury.
4.   Ruth Lee Johnson J.D (2015, March 16)The Hidden Horrors of Jury Duty. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/so-sue-me/201503/the-hidden-horrors-jury-duty.
5.  Katherine. (2019, September 12). 7 Frequently Asked Questions About Jury Duty – LLS. Retrieved from https://www.legallanguage.com/legal-articles/jury-duty-questions/

 Roos, D. (2015, April 24). Do some people get called for jury duty more than others? Retrieved from https://people.howstuffworks.com/jury-duty-summons.htm.