Jury Consultants
Name
Institution Affiliated
Jury Consultants
Effectiveness
I believe that jury consultants are effective in their selection of the appropriate jury as they are neutral and have no inclinations. A jury consultant does not know the selected jury beforehand and does not have any biases towards any of the selected jurors. They assess all the jurors on even ground and select the best jurors among them that do not exhibit any biases. Jury consultants conduct extensive research in the lives of the potential jurors and conduct background checks to ensure that the jurors’ history does not contain anything that might influence them to make the wrong judgment.
Jury consultants also assist in the voir dire, which is a process to determine the fairness of the prospective jurors (Lane, 1998). This process takes place before the actual trial, and the attorneys ask questions similar to the trial to draw out any hostile jurors with explicit biases. The jury consultant assesses the responses of the jurors, and whoever the consultant feels will not benefit the team, the consultant can recommend dismissal. They also use the information they gather from the voir dire to create juror profiles, which they can compare and contrast, picking the best jurors that might give a favorable verdict.
Attorneys also employ the help of jury consultants to determine whether prospective jurors have too much information about the case that might cause them to give an unfavorable verdict based on their biases. In cases involving celebrities, jury consultants come in to eliminate any juror that might let their sentiments concerning the celebrity sway their judgment. This elimination is because some jurors might favor a celebrity and give a favorable verdict while others might hate the celebrity and give a negative verdict against the person.
Access to Jury Consultants
I think that both parties involved in the trial should have equal access to jury consultants because of several reasons. It is unjust that only the people with money to spare can access and utilize the service of the jury consultants, who get t pick the most favorable jurors to improve the outcome of the person with the resources to hire them. By doing this, the other party is at the mercy of the jurors that the other party handpicked.
Trial consulting and jury consultants are so effective in the work that they do that it violates a person’s right to receive a verdict from an impartial verdict. The process of consulting gives the side with the most money an unfair advantage even before the trial starts. The process of jury consultation can, essentially, dictate the outcome of court proceedings, trampling other people’s constitutional rights. If both parties can access the services of the jury consultants to select jurors that can give a verdict in their favors, then both parties stand an equal chance. Addressing the issue presented by one wealthy party against a poor party, the court system can make strides in delivering fair and just rulings in the courtrooms. This action can also serve to reduce the general thought that the American judicial system only favors the rich and wealthy.
Reference
Lane, M. E. (1998). Twelve carefully selected not so angry men: Are jury consultants destroying the American legal system. Suffolk UL Rev., 32, 463. https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/lpsyr14&id=172&men_tab=srchresults