phone713-224-1747

 

Small Step Toward Scientific Jury Selection

 Posted on June 22,2010 in Uncategorized

Some numbers, perhaps of interest to nobody but me:Panel average-0.15Struck for cause average0Struck by defense average-0.02Jurors sworn average-0.20Struck by State average-0.69

Numbers are a measure of authoritarianism/egalitarianism based on scaled answers to eight questions, chosen unscientifically-according to how interesting they were to me. Lower numbers are more egalitarian, high numbers more authoritarian. The maximum and minimum possible scores were 5 and -5 1 and -1.

It is interesting that those struck for cause (lots of people couldn't consider probation) and by the defense scored higher than the panel, and those struck by the State but not the defense (we had several double strikes) scored much lower than the panel.

The method needs refinement, but I think I might be on to something here.

(I didn't spend my entire jury selection with this survey; it took about half my time. The other half I spent talking with the jurors.)

Share this post:
Back to Top