Voir Dire Essay

Juries exists in the criminal trial to listen to the case presented to them and, as a third, non-bias party, decide beyond reasonable doubt if the accused is guilty. For the use of a trial by juror to be effective, no bias should exists in the jurors judgments, the jurors should understand clearly their role and key legal terms, and the jury system should represent the communities standards and views whilst upholding the rights of the accused and society and remain cost and time effective.

The Judge then asked if any panel members had trouble reading, writing, or speaking English. He also asked if anyone was affected by or taking care of someone with a chronic health issue that interfered with their ability to serve on a jury, and two members had family undergoing treatment that they cared for. The doctor previously mentioned was scheduled to be in the Operating room during the trial. After that, he continued to ask if anyone had nonrefundable travel plans, which several people did, and after that he asked if anyone had childcare conflicts. There were three single dads in the room unable to serve for that reason. Lastly, he asked if there was anything that impacted someone’s ability to be an impartial juror that had not been previously discussed. When no one

The sixth amendment to the U.S constitution guarantees a defendant in a criminal prosecution the right to a speedy, public, and impartial trial by jury. Once it has determined that the trail will be by jury, the next step in the criminal proceeding is the selection of the jurors. During this process possible jurors receive a summons in the mall ordering them to appear in court at a specified time and date the people who are summoned comprise the venire (the prospective jurors for cases). Voir dire Latin term meaning to speak the truth, this is an examination conducted by the courts or by the attorneys of a potential juror or witness to determine if they would be proficient or qualified for services. Jurors’ questionnaires reveals information disqualifying them from jury service is only the first step in the jury selection process. Typical questions relate to whether prospective jurors know the defendant, the attorneys, or any of the witnesses, whether they have read or heard about the case in the media, and whether they have racial, nationality, or gender biases. Effective voir dire is getting the prospective jurors to tell the court or attorneys what they need to know.

Answer: Permitting jurors to discuss the merits of a case being tried before the evidentiary phase of the trial has been concluded.

A venire is the selected jury panel which has to be established prior to systematically setting forth in the sixth amendment. Jury selection has evolved beyond seeking impartial, unbiased jurors. During the voir dire process, both sides also attempt to exclude jurors who may be detrimental to their case and to retain those who may be beneficial. Jury selection experts have created a science of what to ask and look for during this process, leading to justifiable inquiries about whether it truly is about only impartiality. Although each side has a certain number of peremptory challenges they may assert to remove a potential juror for any reason whatsoever, the use of such peremptory dismissals to create a jury unfairly composed of a group likely

Voir dire- A process in which jurors are questioned in order to select the members of the final panel. Another definition given by Garland is “roughly it means “to speak the truth.”

Each team of attorneys have interviewed several witnesses before the day of the trial. After interviewing, the attorneys compiled a list of questions to ask the witnesses during their testimonies.

Often, forty or fifty people will be summoned for a 12 person jury. The process of selecting who will make up the jury is called voir dire, which involves getting rid of potential jurors who would not be fair or impartial. Prosecutors and defense attorneys can strike for cause a potential juror for several reasons, such as bias or prejudice, an unlimited number of times. They also have a limited number of peremptory challenges, which allows them to get rid of a juror without needing to have a valid reason to do so. Once all challenges the attorneys can utilize have been exhausted, the judge will assemble the petit jury and will generally select alternate jurors as

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of spiritual music and the best­known 16th­century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. He has had a marvelous influence on the development of church music, and his work has often been seen as the culmination of Renaissance polyphony. Palestrina's masses show how his compositional style developed over time. One of the symbols of Palestrina's music is that dissonances are typically credited to the "weak" beats in a measure.This produced a smoother and more consonant type of polyphony which we now consider late Renaissance music, given Palestrina's position as Europe's leading composer. In this piece, Sicut Cervus,

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

The steps involved in the selection of the jury involve; Computer generated random selection, determination of liability, summons, selection of a panel from jury pool and finally the selection of jury from the panel.

Juries are selected from the general population; they are to be a representation of the people from that area. In trials with a jury, the first step is the selection of jurors. The jury selection process starts with something called voir dire, which is Latin for “to speak the truth”. Voir dire is where either the lawyers or the judge ask potential jurors questions about matters deemed to be significant to the trial. The judge may be asked to dismiss a juror for cause by the lawyer if incompetence or likely bias has been proven. (Baum, 2013) For example, a juror can be dismissed for cause if he or she is related to anyone involved in the case including the defendant or a lawyer, or if a company that is part of the lawsuit employs him or her. Each lawyer may request the dismissal of jurors for cause with no limit. (American Bar Association, 2016) Both sides are allowed a limited number of peremptory challenges, which are how a juror can be dismissed without having to show cause. The lawyer is to dismiss because they believe the person to be unable to serve in the best interest of the client not because of race or sex. (American Bar

If during all of this process no agreement or deal has been made it goes to trial. “A trail is the proceeding during which the government and the defense present evidence to prove or disprove the charges” (Victim Assistance, 2013). If the defendant chooses to have a trial by jury than the jury selection process begins. “Twelve jurors are selected randomly from the jury pool, a list of potential jurors compiled from voter registration records of people living in the district” (Steps in the Federal Criminal Process, 2015). An ideal jury should consist of all types of people from different races and cultures (Steps in the Federal Criminal Process, 2015). Each attorney asks each potential jury member questions about their prejudices to help them decide whether or not they want them on the jury (Steps in the Federal Criminal Process, 2015). The judge is there to make sure that the attorneys are fair with their questions, and that the jury selection ends up fair and impartial.

Several pairs of eyes trail the prosecutor as he puts forth his reasons as to why the defendant should be guilty. Several pairs of ears listen intently in a trance like mode, also cautious of every detail. The prosecutor presents the facts with great gusto, painting a picture of the defendant in a bad light. Once he is done, the defendant’s lawyer takes the stage and he too, with great effort, puts forth reasons as to why his client is innocent. In the end, when everything is said and done and it time for the verdict, only one voice answers to the court clerk out of the 12 men and women. These 12 people are the jurymen and they play an equally important role as the lawyers and judges of a court trial. In fact, a jury is the sole decider, based

The issue of the media interfering with the criminal justice process must be addressed. When implementing a solution to the issue, there must be a balance between the defendant’s constitutional right to impartial trial and the media constitutional right freedom of the press. First, one of the measures that is often taken is venue change. The prosecutor of the case can request the location of the trial to be changed if there is a strong belief that the jury has been tainted by the media. This change is used to help minimize the potential for biases to ensure that the defendant has a higher chance at having an impartial trial. Most of the time the trials are conducted in another state, such as the Oklahoma City Bombing case. Secondly, there are usually jury instructions for the selected jury. Typically, in cases that are high profiled, the juror will be instructed not to view any media coverage that could produce biases about the case. Thirdly, there is the use of sequestration, where the juror is separated from the general public to prevent biases from occurring. Sequestration is also used with witness. This strategy is used to prevent the jury from being tainted by either being threaten or