Juror: Peremptory Challenges

In the essay, “Trial Lawyers Cater to Jurors Demands for Visual Evidence,” by Sylvia Hsieh, elicits the symbiotic relationship between trial attorneys and the technological developments used in the court room. He illustrates, how these technical improvements impact the demands and perception of jurors. He also expresses they are reasonably priced, yet faces evidentiary challenges. He engenders the cause and ramifications of technology utilized in the court of law with its added benefits while concluding its pitfalls.

This paper is being submitted August 11, 2013 for Professor Sheryl Prichard’s Criminal Law and Procedure course at Devry University by Jonah Colombo.

The issue at hand is whether the use of peremptory challenges to remove a potential juror form the jury pool based on the race violates the equal protection

Within the criminal justice system discuss the effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures in achieving justice.

“The harm from discriminatory jury selection extends beyond that inflicted on the defendant and the excluded juror to touch the entire community. Selection procedures that purposefully exclude black persons from juries undermine public confidence in the fairness of our system of justice. Discrimination within the judicial system is most pernicious because it is ‘a stimulant to the race prejudice which is an impediment to securing to [black citizens] that equal justice, which the law aims to secure to all others.’” (72 A.B.A.J. 68, July, 1986) With the Court’s ruling new standards were set that required the defendant to show: --That they are members of a cognizable racial group and that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges to remove from the venire members of the defendants’ race --The defendants may rely on the fact that peremptory challenges are a jury selection practice which allow those who are minded to discriminate to do so --That these facts and any other relevant circumstances raise an inference that the prosecutor used that practice to exclude the veniremen from the petit jury on account of their race. (Batson v. Kentucky 476 U.S. 79 [1986])

Juror 10- Brother, you can say that again. The kids who crawl outa those places are real trash. I don't want any part of them, I’m telling you.

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.

Why aren’t jurors, the people who can potentially decide whether a person lives or dies, properly trained in the field of law? Despite the conviction that the United States judicial system is impartial and unblemished, juries thwart this assumption from becoming an actuality, thus making courts inadequate to generate a proper verdict. A fair trial entails unbiased and erudite jurors that establish an adjudication based solely on evidence, yet run of the mill citizens can have predisposed prejudices forged upon the grounds of race. Moreover, with the germination of many technological advancements, biases are conceived from illicit research conducted by jurors in the deliberation room, which perpetuates the notion that trials are becoming

A prospective juror is requested to be dismissed because there is a specific or forceful reason that the person cannot be unbiased, fair, and would not potentially be a good juror. A challenge is used to target a potential juror for disqualification for some stated reason. These reasons may be that the juror is bias, prejudice and they may even know the lawyers or the defendant, or there may be some prior incident that may prevent them from being a part of the case. During a challenge for cause the court must agree that the cause exists for the challenge and if it does and the courts agree then the citizen will lose their seat on the jury.

Challenge to the array refers to the questioning of the eligibility of an entire jury panel to see if they can continue to trial. Usually, this is done when there are grounds to suspect a jury's biased opinions on a case. For example, an entire jury could share the same religious values that conflict with the case at hand. They can then be challenged and potentially discharged if the challenge passes. Another jury panel is then picked to replace them.This challenge is generally done by a defense attorney to ensure fairness in a

Nemeth, C.P. (2001). Law & evidence: a primer for criminal justice, criminology, law, and legal studies. NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.

1. Siegel, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2013) Essentials of criminal justice , Belmont, CA

In this essay, I will describe the elements of a criminal act, address the law of factual impossibility, the law of legal impossibility, and distinguish whether the alleged crime in the scenario is a complete but imperfect attempt or an incomplete attempt. I will address the ethical or moralistic concerns associated with allowing a criminal defendant to avoid criminal responsibility by successfully asserting a legal defense such as impossibility. The court was clearly wrong to dismiss the charge against Jack of attempted murder of Bert.

Bohm, R. M., & Haley, K. N. (2014). Introduction to Criminal Justice (8th ed.). New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill Education.

Laws are constantly developing to meet the needs of an ever changing society which needs an unbiased court of Law. Statutes and common law has its own advantages and disadvantages in the development of civil and criminal liability. In this essay I will explore murder, rape and rape in criminal liability and contract and tort in civil liability.