Module 2 Journal Assignment
Consider issues raised by the article involving the complexity of litigation and the make-up of juries. What is the nature of some of the complex lawsuits at issue today? Do you believe that our current jury system is sufficient to handle emerging complex issues?
Traditionally, and even now, the intent of having a jury hear cases is to have a case be heard by a collection of piers. This collection is carefully selected to be neutral and unbiased. The selection should not take into consideration age, race, gender, or any other defining attribute. This means, essentially, that there should be both older and younger people selected for any jury. In the case regarding Apple vs. Samsung, “the jury was
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Jurors are well accustomed to entertaining commercials, Web sites and even newscasts. New technologies utilizing visual strategy mimic these experiences.
Others issues may involve smartphones. I feel as though it would be imperative for an attorney to use a smartphone in cases involving smartphones. Otherwise, difficulty could arise in trying to describe the issue” (Sabulis).
With that being said, I feel that attorneys with technology based knowledge have the upper hand, and in order to compete with the ever growing uses of technology, attorneys must adapt to any and all means necessary in order to win over the jury and present their case in a way that is both meaningful and easily understood.
“As jurors continue to evolve, and as Millennials occupy more and more seats in the jury box, the influence of technology will only increase. It will change the way children grow up, students learn, and lay citizens perceive litigation. Only those attorney’s savvy enough to understand the jury’s changing dynamics will find themselves consistently successful in tomorrow’s complex litigation” (Wilhelm)
Works Cited
Mintz, Howard. Apple vs. Samsung: Jury foreman says verdict not meant to send big message. San Jose Mercury News (California), 5 May, 2014. Web, 21 Jan 2016.
Sabulis, Tom. Pro and Con;
In the past, the jury learned from the forensic scientists’ testimony; but now, they’re learning from television and a lot of reality shows. Consequently, what they’re learning is not necessarily what is actually done (Honeycutt). However, those jurors who watch criminal investigation television shows do believe that what they’re seeing on TV is what does go on in real life and they expect to see it in court. This is because, according to Shelton, “the more frequently jurors watched a given program, the more accurate they perceived it to be.”
While reading this week’s chapters one of the most promising future technologies that caught my attention and that I think that it can impact in a good way the future of the criminal justice system was the courtroom 21 project as the national standard in all courts in the United States because it will allow cases to be explained more clearly to the jury and judge and at the same time the courtroom 21 project can make the courts work more efficient which will result in cases to be solved quicker avoiding the backlogs of cases. The courtroom 21 project started in 1993 and it is located at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia (William & Mary Law School). The whole purpose of the courtroom 21 project is to create and implement existing
Since, modern technical advances allow our culture to live in a generation where our society fosters impatience. Hsieh states, “As jurors demand slicker, speedier bite-like presentation of trial evidence, lawyers are hiring visual artists, computer, graphic designers and illustrators to transform piles of documents into light, sound and images,” (586). Of course, the growing need encompasses opportunity for employment in the audio-visual fields. Consequently, jurors are conditioned to
When a day trader is shot in cold blood at his workplace, his widow sues a major gun manufacturer. Holding them responsible for his death, she hires an idealistic lawyer Wendell Rohr to oversee the case. Produced in 2003, Runaway Jury is an American justice film that delves into the use of technology in the selection and manipulation of jurors. The analysis addresses: the story’s plot, tampering, formidable adversary, moral dilemma, and a torts lawyer.
In court, it is very important to be fair and just. If you or a fellow friend is in the law industry, they will certainly be aware of the challenge consisting of drawing conclusions on people in the jury box and sometimes the people guilty of the crime. Even with all these facts, evidence, and countless papers/reports that have already been read about the client, the conflict/problem and what should be done, many of times cases turn into somebody being falsely accused and thrown into jail, whether that be in a criminal case, civil case or a bail application. This results in unbearable distress to the falsely accused person and his/her loved ones. To make sure that this never happens again, I have invented the Lawnest, a tiny microscopic-Bluetooth
these are potentially the jurors that will begin asking for more proof, or for what valid reason
The first phase of a criminal jury trial is focused on selecting specific jurors, which is accomplished through a process referred to as 'voir dire' which is a screening of potential jurors. In the criminal trial involving an offense categorized as a felony "12 jurors and up to six alternate jurors may be chosen." (3rd Judicial District, ) Voir dire of the jury involves the prosecuting and defense attorneys questioning the potential jurors and
But what role do jurors play in a trial? If they aren't allowed to know any more than the judge sees fit, does that justify penalizing curious jurors who only wish to be more informed? Does owning a smartphone
Jurors in our current system have inconsistencies because they either have little experience or are easily
If judges felt they now had to instruct jurors on how to know about matters of fact and on how much to know, it was natural for them to turn to the ideas of their contemporaries who were principally concerned about knowing and who were attempting to convey their ideas about knowing to the lay population from which juries were drawn. This tendency was reenforced by the relative isolation of the judges from their normal source of professional sustenance, the bar, when dealing with jury matters. In normal circumstances, lawyers appeared for neither side in ordinary criminal
Contrary to what may be a common public perception, jury trials are a dying breed in America. Jury trials have been declining steadily for the past thirty years. “If the trend continues, within the foreseeable future, civil jury trials in America may eventually become…extinct.” This may seem surprising because the U.S. Constitution ensures the right to a jury trial in criminal trials under the 6th Amendment and in civil trials through the 7th Amendment. The reality, however, is that parties are finding more effective, faster, and more cost-effective means of adjudicating legal disputes through alternative dispute resolution
In the movie 12 Angry Men, the jurors are set in a hot jury room while they are trying to determine the verdict of a young man who is accused of committing a murder. The jurors all explain why they think the accused is guilty or not guilty. Throughout the movie they are debating back and forth and the reader begins to realize that even though the jurors should try to not let bias cloud their judgement, the majority of the jurors are blinded by bias. The viewer can also see that the jurors have their own distinguishable personalities. Their personalities intertwine with each other to demonstrate how the jury system is flawed, but that is what makes it work.
“Trial Lawyers Cater to Jurors’ Demands of Visual Evidence” written by Sylvia Hsiech is about taking evidence from a case and presenting it visually to a jury. Visual evidence has increased in trials due to keeping the attention of the juries and provide another way to present the case. The author states, using this new technology helps jurors with non-visual data keeping their attention focused on the case. Furthermore, the lower cost of visual evidence makes it accessible to all types of criminal and non-criminal cases. The use of visual technology allows the lawyers to present a visual point of view on what possibly happened. It can show a crime scene and present the evidence in sequence to what might of happen. It can also be used to
8. Studies show that jury members retain information up to six times longer when seeing witnesses and hearing them speak, rather than merely hearing a transcript read in court. As the expression goes, "Seeing is believing."
The American jury system ensures an extensive thought process to the evidence of a crime in a case. There were a total of 78,428 criminal cases filed in federal court during a 12 month period, 13,928 criminal trial cases were reviewed by bench trial, and 2,928 criminal trial cases were reviewed by the jury.(Doc.A) There are more than 320