Celebrate Law Day 2005

Speech Ideas and Talking Points

Jury Duty: What You Should Know

Traditional jury service has a reputation for being tedious and confusing. Some people compare it to being sent back to college to take a course you know nothing about. And sometimes, jury duty can go on for days or months, with no clear idea of when it might be over. No one knows for sure how long some jury trials may last. The participants sometimes use confusing terms and technical language that don't make sense to you. You can't take notes, query the lecturer, or confer with your classmates. And on the final exam, you and your fellow students must provide the same answer to the test, or you can't go home. It's true that in the past, this is what jury service felt like to many people.

But that's not the case today: Technology and legal processes have changed the experience of jury duty. Jury service is being improved all over the country.

Instructions Available Early and Often

• In many courts, judges now instruct jurors with information about key legal issues at the start of the trial. In numerous jurisdictions, lawyers will also provide periodic summaries of evidence and clarify issues that may be puzzling.

Courts Often Permit Note-Taking

• Much like in school or in a work meeting, note-taking lets individuals stay focused while listening to testimony and helps jurors recall testimony more clearly during later deliberations.

• College courses have course outlines, and similarly, jurors in some courts are supplied with juror notebooks for keeping documents or information, e.g., juror notes; preliminary and, later, final instructions; lists of witnesses (names and photos), and copies of key exhibits.

Jurors Can Produce Questions for Witnesses

• Some jurisdictions permit jurors to submit questions for the witnesses, under the supervision of the judge, who applies strict rules that ensure that the questions are fair to all parties. This not only assures that the rules of evidence are followed, it also involves jurors in the process and makes them more attentive and cases more personal.

Plain English, Please

• Wherever possible, lawyers and the judge are striving to use language the jurors understand and eliminate the use of complex legal jargon.

Clearer Instructions

• Many courts are issuing final instructions before the lawyers' closing arguments, so that jurors can better comprehend the law and its application to the case, and can weigh the arguments in light of the instructions. Some courts are giving juries copies of the final instructions in writing, and allowing jurors to present questions about them before deliberation begins.

Assistance with the Deliberation Process

• With the help of research into how juries decide, judges are providing guidance on how jurors can carefully review the evidence before voting, listen to all sides, respect each other's opinions, not rush to judgment, etc.

Conclusion

• These innovations spring from the same hypothesis: "that if jurors are useful and powerful figures in our democracy, they must be treated that way. They must be given … training, tools, and information." (Stephen J. Adler, The Jury)

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