Time Management in Voir Dire: 4 Time Wasters to Eliminate from the Process
Few things are more frustrating for a jury consultant than voir dire ending with the feeling that we did not learn anything particularly meaningful about the jury. It happens much more often than one might think, in part because it is difficult for some attorneys to appreciate how they could talk directly with the venire for thirty minutes and not learn anything valuable. Instead, we are left trying to extract insights from such trivial facts as Juror #14’s decades old DUI conviction or Juror #27 being an engineer. We have published extensively on the most effective strategies for voir dire
Can the impact on jurors of alcohol use be reduced in dangerous driving cases? Online Jury Research Update
Dangerous driving resulting in the death of another person is judged more harshly by jurors when alcohol is involved. Dolnik and colleagues (2003) investigated what might limit the impact of a defendant's alcohol use in a criminal case involving dangerous driving (speeding) that occasioned death. The case involved a defendant driving home from a party when a head-on collision occurred between two cars in which a young woman died and the defendant suffered only minor injuries. Mock jurors read a case summary that included testimony from both prosecution witnesses (a forensic police expert who examined the accident scene, ambulance officer,
Does judicial rehabilitative questioning debias jurors in child sex abuse cases? Online Jury Research Update
Judicial rehabilitative questioning of jurors during voir dire is intended to ensure that biasing attitudes, beliefs and experiences of jurors will not influence their verdicts. Rehabilitative questioning serves as a buffer to possible juror bias. Judicial rehabilitative questioning can be considered to be an effective buffer if, after questioning and juror affirmation of the ability to set aside any bias and follow the law, jurors both with and without the biasing beliefs and experiences reach similar verdicts (i.e., based on case evidence and not their beliefs or experiences). Castrogiovanni (2022) studied the sufficiency of judicial rehabilitative questioning in voir dire
Reassessing Jurors’ Attitudes in Light of the Growing Uncertainty of Venue in Patent Litigation
Upended again, predominant venues for patent litigation have become increasingly difficult to predict. First, the 2017 TC Heartland decision effectively put an end to the dominance of Marshall’s Rocket Docket. Patent cases filed in the Eastern District of Texas dropped from 1,665 in 2016 to 505 in 2018. Then, following Judge Albright’s appointment in 2018, the Waco Division of the Western District of Texas became the new hub of patent litigation. In 2021, the number of patent cases in his courtroom totaled over 900, which comprised nearly 20% of all patent litigation filed in that year.[1] However, in July, an
Which types of voir dire questions yield more informative answers from jurors? Online Jury Research Update
Information gathering about jurors is a central goal of voir dire. The choices lawyers make about the form and tone of questions affects both the quality and quantity of information obtained from jurors. Grosso and O'Brien (2019) analyzed attorney questions and juror answers of actual individualized voir dire of 729 potential jurors in 12 North Carolina capital cases. A detailed analysis was conducted of 8,583 general legal opinion questions lawyers asked these 729 jurors....
DHow does juror discretion affect damage awards to plaintiffs who are Black, Asian or female? Online Jury Research Update
The law seeks to ensure that injured plaintiffs are compensated for their injuries regardless of their race, ethnicity or gender. Girvan and Marek (2016) investigated how jurors differentially award damages based on plaintiff race, ethnicity and gender. Damage awards were examined where jurors have less discretion in determining the amount (economic damages) and where jurors have more discretion in determining the amount (pain and suffering damages). Jury verdicts were analyzed from 1,133 tort cases in New York, Florida and Illinois ....