BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Crime HOW IS A JURY SELECTED

PLEASE HELP. IS REALLY IMPORTANT.
THANKS

Hi Kikyo:

Procedure varies from location to location, but here is a general outline for you...

Lists of names (U.S. citizens) are gathered from electoral roles and these people are randomly issued jury summonses. These individuals go to court and normally sit in a big "pool" of potential jurors from which names are called to report for a jury selection process.

After you move from the big pool of people to the "panel", potential jurors are questioned, by the judge (and attorneys), about their backgrounds and opinions and knowledge to determine if you can make a fair and impartial decision. Potential jurors are then excused and new individuals are put in the panel and questioned in the same manner.

I hope this helps. I had to type this up pretty quickly as it seems you need the info urgently.

Consider calling a local court if you are looking for a good resource for a research project.

Sarah is right, and that probably answered your question. As an addition detail, lawyers are typically allowed to "challenge" potential jurors who they do not want on the jury.

The specific rules for this differ from state to state. In California, where I went to school, there are two types of challenges: "for cause," and "peremptory."

With "for cause" challenges, the lawyer has to convince the judge that there is a legal reason for the juror to be excused. The judge then makes a legal decision whether to excuse that juror.

With "peremptory" challenges, the lawyer does not need to give the judge any reason for excusing a juror. So, these are used strategically by lawyers when there is no "legal" reason (nothing written into the law) to excuse a juror, but the lawyer has reasons they don't want a person on the jury.

The thing is (in California and probably other states), a lawyer is only allowed a limited number of peremptory challenges.

Judges also occasionally excuse jurors who can convince the judge they will suffer extreme hardship if they have to serve jury duty. In a very short trial, these excuses are hard to get.

That may be more than you needed to know, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case!

Good luck,

Chris

Is U.S the same with Canada(sorry, I forgot to say I need to know Canada's)?
Thank You

Hello again Kikyo:

I am not familiar with jury trials in Canada, but I found several websites that seem to do a good job of explaining the Canadian system. I hope they help.

Canada's SchoolNet - Selecting a Jury - Criminal Cases

Alberta Courts - The Jury and Justice System

Government of Yukon - Jury Selection