NCJ Number
133245
Journal
American University Law Review Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1991) Pages: 631-664
Date Published
1991
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Focus is on the dilemma created when potential jurors are exposed to media coverage of the events or people that subsequently become involved in high visibility criminal trials.
Abstract
The three sections of this article examine the following: early common law background of criminal juries and the standards the U.S. Supreme Court has developed to ensure the selection of impartial juries; the techniques available to State and Federal trial courts for ferreting out unacceptably biased members of the venire; the roles juries and jurors fill in the judicial system; and the meaning of an "impartial" jury in light of its historical context and the reality of the current judicial system and mass communications market. Courts must neither ignore the impact of media coverage prior to the trial on the selection of an impartial jury nor become entangled in examining the amount and type of media coverage. The language of the sixth amendment, the dictates of the Supreme Court, and the realities of modern society all require that courts impanel juries that are impartial yet are not without knowledge and opinions. 198 footnotes