Limitations Of SJT

“It is not always possible for an individual to prevent his preconceptions from influencing his determinations.” (“Right to an Impartial Federal Jury” 659)

Despite the efforts of lawyers and judges to eliminate racial discrimination in the courts, does racial bias play a part in today’s jury selection? Positive steps have been taken in past court cases to ensure fair and unbiased juries. Unfortunately, a popular strategy among lawyers is to incorporate racial bias without directing attention to their actions. They are taught to look for the unseen and to notice the unnoticed. The Supreme Court in its precedent setting decision on the case of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), is the first step to limiting racial discrimination in the court room. The process of selecting jurors begins with prospective jurors being brought into the courtroom, then

White participants. We observed that there was a main effect with the race of the jury and the empathy felt by the jury for the victim. The empathy felt by the jury for the white victim when the jury was white (M = 5.781, SD =

Diversity brings strength and resilience in the face of ever-changing conditions. In today's world, it is more important than ever. The impression is not only to have noticeable diversity in people, but as well to derive as close to a cross-section of all social and economic levels as can be had, whose social views do not show too heavy extremes which could favor either the Defense or the Prosecution. If a prospective juror harbors an opinion which favors one side over the other, attorneys look for this, in not only words said, but in body language, so as not to lose their case. The attorneys have as much, if not more, interest in winning for their own professional sake as for freeing or convicting the defendant. However, there cannot be found

Much research has been conducted, by researchers belonging to different schools of thought within psychology, to help demonstrate what has come to be known as ‘jury bias’ and to pinpoint psychological reasoning behind it. The 2010 ECHR Human Rights Report, ‘How Fair is Britain’, explains that 15% of the prison population was made of blacks in comparison with 2.2% of the general population. This would be seen by some, if not many, as a blatant display of what is called ‘institutionalized racism’ within the British legal framework.

When thinking of a jury, there is a belief that everyone is fair when it comes to making the decision of whether the person being accused of the crime is guilty or not guilty because of the person’s race. What if this belief is not necessarily correct? There have been many instances in whether race has been a factor when the jury makes a decision. According to Baskin, Goldstein, and Sommers (2014), there has been enough evidence to show that racial biases influences the decisions of a jury. In this paper, the articles will show how jury decision-making is influenced by the offender’s race.

Voir dire is intended to determine whether representatives on a panel were exposed to pretrial exposure. Dismissing representatives on a panel who were exposed to pretrial bias is unrealistic. To combat issues concerning pretrial exposure, as well as bias, counsel will de-bias mock representatives, as a means to de-bias perceptions and decisions, as a solution. De-biasing will result in more reasoned and less automatic decisions. With

As stated in the beginning of this paper, I have always been aware of the “favoritism” in the justice system but this has help me develop a more logical understanding of it. I have also come to realize that my brother was apart of that favoritism because he is white. While writing this paper, I’ve experienced many emotions. Those emotions ranged from sadness to confusion to anger.

It has been accounted that in the United States, such discrimination has been seen to exist from the initial stages of criminal justice. This is based on the realization that in

To understand how deeply embedded prejudice is in our criminal justice system we must acknowledge that it is influenced by our society which

American society is a great nation made up of rich racial diversity, a situation that brings sensitivity on the way different races are treated, especially in the justice system. Statistics on the field of criminal justice shows unequal racial proportions of people arrested and charged in courts of law. The statistics trigger unfounded theories that some races, especially the African American race, are mistreated may be due to their skin color. The assumptions regarding unfairness in the justice system on lines of racial alignment may or may not be true, hence the need for more scrutiny. According to Justice On trial (n.d), in regard to the allegations on justice system, it is imperative that the stake holders in the justice system consider

Jurors contribute much to racism dealing in rape and other cases. A study for The Journal of Social Psychology was conducted about Juror racism in Rape Trials by Patricia Herbert Landwehr et al., from the Department of Psychology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In Racism in Rape Trials, Landwehr et al. concluded, similar to a previous study done by R.W. Hymes et al., Acquaintance Rape, that juror racial bias is more likely to cause a defendant to be convicted if said defendant's race differed from that of their alleged victim. Many issues come alone with the racism and racial bias continuing in Jurors and Judges. Can they be settled? The Sentencing project developed Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers. In this manual members of the Project developed multiple ways to reduce Racial Disparity including ‘Encouraging Diversity in the Legal Profession’. Another way to reduce racial bias in the Criminal Justice System would be to hold Blind Trials. For a Blind Trial to be effective the Jury and Judge would only be told the crime the defendant has been accused of, the age, and gender of the defendant and prosecutor. They would also be told any priors the defendant may hold and any time they may have done. The Juror and Judge will also be able to hear the statements from both sides. They will not be

For example, the recent "creepy clown attacks" have caused an outburst in the U.S., despite it being such a trivial occurrence. They cause fear amongst viewers, scaring them over clown sightings and clown horror stories circling the news. Further media coverage just made the whole thing rather ridiculously brought out of proportion, refusing to let this oh-so-wonderful news story from dying. The media, rather than causing anything meaningful to happen, just stirring the pot further, unintentionally causing more random hooligans to take to the streets donning their most horrific clown costume money can

assistance of council, and procedural bars, venue, and jury selection, as well as potential racism by jurors. According to ( Tabak, 1999) “these reasons apply in cases in which the death penalty may be sought.” When illustrating the use of prosecutorial discretion two crime types that can be

The US courts were put in place to examine a case and make a legal decision that will settle the dispute. These courts have flaws that affect the outcome of justice being served and falsely incriminate the innocent. Courts utilize a jury to see the different perspectives throughout the trial and determine a verdict, while the judge creates a sentence appropriate to the offense. The jurors are required to come to a non-bias decision but that not always the situation. Decisions are sometimes made on the race, religion, ethnicity and/or sexual orientation of the defendant, no matter their innocence. In research done in “What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System”, Andrew