9. Court phase 2: Court

Question 1

when are juries used?

Answer 1

• Civil and criminal trials
• There are twelve (12) jurors for a criminal trial and four (4) for a civil trial.
• Reserve jurors are permitted and range between two (2) and six (6).

Question 2

Who are members of the jury?

Answer 2

• Members of the general public aged between 18 and 70
• Random selection from the electoral rolls
• Complete an eligibility questionnaire

Question 3

What is included in the eligibility questionairre?

Answer 3

Are you any of the following?
current member of parliament
current mayor or other councillor of a local government
current or former judge or magistrate in Queensland or elsewhere
lawyer actually engaged in legal work
current or former police officer in Queensland or elsewhere
current or former correctional officer or detention centre employee
unable to read or write English
incapable of performing the duties of a juror because of a physical or mental disability
70 years of age or over and do not want to serve on a jury
current or former presiding member of the Land and Resources Tribunal
current member of the defence forces
None of the above

Question 4

what did a sample of the Qld district court juror contain?

Answer 4

Persons aged between 18 and 69 years
107 females (56%)
65 jurors had a University education (34%); 38 jurors had some other form of tertiary education (20%)
73 jurors were not in the workforce

Question 5

what did UQ study find regarding juries?

Answer 5

Similar findings reported by UQ research (n = 33) (2009)

When compared with ABS statistics – jurors appear better educated than Queensland residents overall

Question 6

what is there almost no research on regarding juries?

Answer 6

There is almost no research pertaining to the number of Indigenous people called for jury service or sitting on Queensland juries.

Question 7

who are members of the community that may be excluded from participating as jurors?

Answer 7

persons of old age, pregnant women, people with child-care responsibilities, people with a medical condition, individuals with prior criminal convictions, individuals who cannot speak English.

Those with professional involvement in the legal system and any number of skilled occupational group members (doctors, school teachers, ministers, senior bureaucrats).

All these exemptions from service make the jury pool less representative. (Chesterman, 2000)

Question 8

what is the voir dire process?

Answer 8

It has been argued that there is no aspect of a criminal trial that is more important to the ultimate outcomes than the jury selection process (Lieberman & Sales, 2007).

Question 9

What are the two main goals of the Voi dire?

Answer 9

) whether the potential jurors are qualified to serve as jurors
2) to identify any biases that may interfere with their ability to be impartial

Objection to a juror can be raised by defense or prosecution

Question 10

what can lawyers challenge in the voir dire process?

Answer 10

Lawyers make a challenge for cause to the judge that potential juror x is unsuitable for reasons y and the judge makes the decision to excuse or not.
Whether a juror’s particular background or beliefs make them biased and therefore unsuitable for service (Vidmar, 2000).

Question 11

how long can voir dire processes take?

Answer 11

Voir dire typically lasts hours but can take months – especially in trials with intense pre-trial publicity (PTP)

Question 12

what does the voir dire process provide to the defence and prosecution?

Answer 12

Gives both the defence and prosecution a specific number of unconditional peremptory challenges

Jurisdictions in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and United States

No justifications (reasons) have to be brought to exclude a specific juror. 
Judges must exclude these jurors.

Question 13

who do defence lawyers generally exclude?

Answer 13

Generally, defence lawyers exclude jurors who have professions or backgrounds similar to the victim as they may feel an emotional link to them, while prosecutors tend to exclude jurors who may show affinity for the defendant.

Question 14

what is the famous like about the difference between anglo-australian and american trials?

Answer 14

“With the Australians, the trial starts when jury selection is over; with Americans, when the jury is selected the trial is already over” (Knox, 2005, pg 46)

Question 15

what juries does USA have by Australia does not?

Answer 15

grand juries?

Question 16

what are USA grand juries?

Answer 16

Role is to decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial (possibility of conviction)
16 – 23 general public citizens
Prosecutor only, no judge, no jury, no defendant represented.
99.9% indict to go to court.

Question 17

what is the equivalent of USA grand juries?

Answer 17

Public prosecutors assess and decide on reasonable prospect of conviction.
If put forward, then goes to Magistrates courts

Question 18

what are the different modes of juries around the world?

Answer 18

Lay persons (e.g., Australia, UK, USA, NZ, CAN)
Lay persons and judges (e.g., France, Italy, Germany)
Judges only (South Africa)

Question 19

what happened in the Oscar Pistorius trial with regard to juries?

Answer 19

Oscar Pistorius trial was assigned to a Judge who appointed two assessors to help her evaluate the case and reach a verdict. There was no jury, the jury system in South Africa being abolished during apartheid.

Question 20

what also differs between jureis around the world?

Answer 20

Amount of information known about jurors
Jury size (criminal vs civil cases)
Unanimity versus majority verdicts

Question 21

what are methods for studying jurors/juries?

Answer 21

Post trial interviews
Archival research
Questionnaire surveys
E.g., The American Jury (Kalven & ZeiseL important book, first in-depth look at juries and other social-legal factors
Simulation (Mock juries)
Field studies

Question 22

what do post-trial interviews assess?

Answer 22

Assess jurors’ understanding of judges’ instructions

Question 23

what are the issues of reliability of self-report data in regards to post trial interviews?

Answer 23

Hindsight bias

Social desirability

Question 24

what are other issues of post trial interviews?

Answer 24

Jurors may not be explicitly aware of what influences them

Recall degrades over time

can only discuss variables not cause and effect

Question 25

What did a study in NSW find with regard to post trial interviews?

Answer 25

Post-trial interviews of jurors who served on six criminal trials in New South Wales disclosed that jurors who admitted difficulty understanding DNA expert evidence nevertheless proceeded to convict (Findlay 2008).

Question 26

what is the strength of post trial interviews?

Answer 26

high external validity

Question 27

what is archival research?

Answer 27

Records of trials, police interviews with witnesses

Question 28

What are the weaknesses of archival research?

Answer 28

Only have the information available | Cannot go back and ask more questions

Question 29

what is the strength of archival research?

Answer 29

High external validity but cannot establish cause and effect.

Question 30

what was the experiement involving questionnaire surveys?

Answer 30

Kalven and Zeisel (The American Jury) sent a questionnaire to 3500 judges in the US 15.8% responded (n = 555) Data on 3576 trials (3% of all jury trials during the two-year sample period) “By and large the jury understand the facts and get the case straight” However, they only asked Judges if the jurors had understood the trial content.

Question 31

What do mock juries involve?

Answer 31

Most use written materials and undergraduates (Bornstein, 1999) Participants are given the trial information and respond individually (juror research) or in groups (jury research) Suggest that both characteristics of the defendant and the jurors impact on decisions

Question 32

what is the strength of mock juries?

Answer 32

High internal validity,

Question 33

what is the weakness of mock juries?

Answer 33

Most do not use deliberation generally low external validity Most research based on US system of law

Question 34

what is often manipulated with mock juries?

Answer 34

Independent variables are often manipulated race or age of defendant Admission or exclusion of some piece of evidence or defendant / plaintiff background

Question 35

what did Roos and Down's (QUT) study involve?

Answer 35

Study regarding sexism and rape myth If a sexual assault victim was violating gender norms (married woman out at night without her husband), would a mock jury member with strong sexist beliefs blame the victim? 283 participants were asked to consider that they were on a jury and were provided with a police report with statements from the victim and suspect. Half were told the victim was married and was out without her husband and half were not told anything about her marital status. They were asked to provide a jury verdict (guilty or not guilty), verdict confidence level and sentencing. 69% found the perpetrator guilty, and 31% not guilty. Rape myth acceptance was strongest predictor of victim blame.

Question 36

what is the issue of field studies?

Answer 36

Needs the courts cooperation which can be difficult

Question 37

what do field studies investigate?

Answer 37

Investigate, for example, differences between jurors that were allowed to take notes and those who were not

Question 38

what is the strength of field studies?

Answer 38

High external validity

Question 39

what resulted in the ban for recording of jury deliberations?

Answer 39

In The American Jury days, a District Court judge allowed taping of jury deliberations. When it was made public; resulted in law banning recording of jury deliberations.

Question 40

what are shadow juries?

Answer 40

Create your own jury Matched demographics with sitting jury members Jury eligible people Paid to attend the case and debriefed (normally daily) to inform the legal team of any confusion or risk due to perceptions by jury Provide their reactions and opinions. Sometimes called jury monitors

Question 41

what are the disadvantages of jury note taking?

Answer 41

Note takers exert influence over non-note takers | If there are disagreements, jurors will rely on those who took notes

Question 42

what are the advantages of jury note taking?

Answer 42

Memory aid | Clear view of the case (memory)

Question 43

When is "Strike that from the record" and "I object" used in court?

Answer 43

When there is inadmissible evidence. Jurors do not ignore extra-legal or inadmissible evidence. Sometimes the back-fire effect occurs, the judge's instruction to disregard the information actually makes it more memorable

Question 44

What is the back-fire effect?

Answer 44

Strike that from the record" and "I object" are used. sometimes the back-fire effect occurs, the judge's instruction to disregard the information actually makes it more memorable

Question 45

how is jury competency affected?

Answer 45

As case complexity increased, jurors less sure their verdict reflected a proper understanding of instructions (Heuer & Penrod, 1995)

Question 46

Why is it difficult to comprehend differences between legal terms?

Answer 46

Serious difficulty comprehending differences between legal concepts (Severance & Loftus) Reasonable doubt Criminal intent Use of prior offence history

Question 47

What did research on jury duty following instructions show?

Answer 47

224 people called for jury duty, research indicated they understood less than 50% of instructions

Question 48

what is a finding about comprehending evidence?

Answer 48

Jurors are conscientious about their task, but this fades away during the trial

Question 49

What did Visher found about influencing jurors?

Answer 49

Visher found four types of evidence significantly influenced jurors: Physical evidence, Eyewitness testimony, Discrediting testimony and evidence Extra-legal factors of social class & education, personality, etc

Question 50

What did Judge Jerome Frank say about jury competence?

Answer 50

“While the jury can contribute nothing of value in so far as the law is concerned, it has the capacity for infinite mischief, for twelve men can easily misunderstand more law in a minute than the judge can explain in an hour” - Judge Jerome Frank (Heuer & Penrod, 1995, pg 527)

Question 51

What characteristics of jurors are more likely to convict

Answer 51

Older jurors Higher educational standard (Hans & Vidmar) Previous jury experience (Dillehay & Nietzel) Female jurors But only in rape cases (Hans & Vidmar) or child sexual abuse cases (Crowley et al.)

Question 52

which gender is more likely to convict in rape or child sex abuse cases?

Answer 52

females

Question 53

What can reduce the differences between genders regarding convictions of rape and child sexual abuse?

Answer 53

Deliberation

Question 54

What is not related to conviction?

Answer 54

the race of the jury and authoritarianism and conservatism

Question 55

What was interestingly discovered in the First Rodney King trial with regards to race and juries?

Answer 55

Black defendants more likely to be perversely convicted regardless But: First Rodney King trial, all white jury acquitted four white police officers; Second trial utilised a mixed-race jury who convicted

Question 56

what has the American Jury selection created?

Answer 56

American Jury selection has created a mini-industry of jury consultants whose job it is to build profiles of jurors and advise lawyers on challenges (Knox, 2005) One trial attorney said: “it had gotten to the point where if the case is large enough it almost malpractice not to use them” (Knox, 2005)

Question 57

what is the cognitive story model?

Answer 57

Jurors actively construct explanations for the evidence and use this to guide their verdict They interpret and elaborate on evidence to create a cohesive story Jurors bring their own individual differences – attitudes, beliefs, knowledge – in contributing to the story Study on 26 participants (simulated trial) demonstrated that different individual differences influenced different stories and therefore different verdicts. Pennington & Hastie (1986)

Question 58

what are physically attractive defendants more liekly to be granted?

Answer 58

Physically attractive defendants are more likely to be acquitted (Michelini & Snodgrass) or receive a lighter sentence (Stewart)

Question 59

when are defendants more likely to be seen as guilty?

Answer 59

Defendants are more likely to be seen as guilty if their ethnicity matches stereotypic expectations (Bodenhausen, 2000)

Question 60

what is over-represented in custody?

Answer 60

Racial minorities over-represented in custody Australia – (2008), Indigenous people are 3% of the total population but are 28% of prison population. 30% of all Indigenous males will come before the courts.

Question 61

what happened in the OJ Simpson trial with regards to jury deliberation?

Answer 61

The OJ Simpson criminal trial Jury had to evaluate the evidence of 120 witnesses presented over 10 months They took less than 4 hours to acquit OJ

Question 62

what questions did the OJ simpson trial raise with regard to jury deliberaitons?

Answer 62

Raises some questions… Did they wait for formal deliberations to actually deliberate? Did they reach a verdict before deliberations? How could they possibly evaluate all of that evidence meaningfully?

Question 63

Does deliberation alter jury decisions?

Answer 63

General belief that jurors have already decided a verdict before they retire (see Kalven & Zeisel) BUT Hastie et al. found that the minority managed to prevail in 25% of cases. There needs to be comparison of differences between verdict and evidence driven deliberations

Question 64

what is verdict driven jury deliberation?

Answer 64

Verdict driven: vote and talk about verdict early on in deliberations

Question 65

What is evidence driven deliveration?

Answer 65

Evidence driven: talk about evidence first, vote much later in deliberations

Question 66

What is polarisation?

Answer 66

Polarisation: Become more extreme in belief following group discussion

Question 67

What is leniency?

Answer 67

Leniency: Become more forgiving (lenient) following deliberation.

Question 68

What is the CSI effect?

Answer 68

Education of jurors whereby they are more likely to convict a suspect if the procedures and techniques from television are used in real life. Watching unrealistic crime shows influences jurors expectations and they demand more forensic evidence DNA tests can take weeks or months and are expensive DNA is not always required if other evidence is available Gun residue tests are very difficult and time consuming Blood splatter patterns alone cannot confirm what actually occurred Fingerprints can take 3-4 weeks, IF the prints are in a database it can still take significant time to physically locate the person. It is not that easy or common to get a ‘good fingerprint’. Characters on show not only investigate ("process") crime scenes, but they also conduct raids, engage in suspect pursuit and arrest, interrogate suspects, and solve cases, which falls under the responsibility of uniformed officers and detectives, not CSI personnel

Question 69

what percentage of scientific techniques used in CSI exist in current technology?

Answer 69

Up to 40% of the scientific techniques used on CSI do not exist with current technology

Question 70

how are perpetraitors using CSI and crime shows to their advantage?

Answer 70

Perpetrators are using ‘hints’ gained from television shows to attempt to hide their crimes. Washing hands, making (rape) victims wash, trying not to leave DNA evidence behind, destroying evidence

Question 71

What are some modern juror issues?

Answer 71

Internet and social media platforms’ accessibility means that potential jurors can access information about a case at their fingertips. People so used to gaining instant information, find it very difficult to restrain from searching. Can bias a juror either for or against a defendant. Jurors not only obtain information but also post information about the case (such as on Facebook or Twitter) Creating ‘new’ problems for legislation and the courts to try to solve.

Question 72

``` what is One juror's reflection of the jury process? This juror was a middle-aged, middle class Caucasian woman called for jury service in Australia ```

Answer 72

She was uncomfortable being called for jury service but once there was surprised at her reaction of wanting to be there* (*this is common reaction, (Knox, 2005)) Being a juror was life changing experience for her Procedures were explained to her and her fellow jurors, they were given pencil and paper to take notes They were directed not to take notes home or discuss the trial with anyone outside the court that they all needed more explanation and instruction than they were given to be effective in discharging their duties that being a juror is a heavy responsibility that there should be most discussion among jurors of the process that people need to be more educated about what is EXPECTED of jurors that the jury made a decision based more on class relations than the actual event that her experience of jury service was not a good one because she continues to be unsure of the defendant’s guilt