Voir Dire and Jury SelectionI am grateful for the contributions of Jason Dickinson and Brian Cutler to an earlier version of this chapter. Portions of the research presented in this chapter were made possible by support from the National Science Foundation (SES# 0136652, SES# 0520617, and SES# 0921408).

Abstract

Jury selection is intended to ensure that citizens who serve as jurors can fairly consider the evidence in a case and apply the law as the judge gives it to them. Jury selection occurs during a legal proceeding known as voir dire, in which the judge and/or the attorneys question prospective jurors to determine their suitability for jury service. Judges may excuse prospective jurors for cause if they exhibit bias during voir dire and report either an unwillingness or inability to set aside the bias. With peremptory challenges, attorneys may remove a limited number of potential jurors without providing a justification. The law and empirical research related to jury selection are reviewed. Topics covered include: extended versus minimal voir dire, juror rehabilitation during voir dire, and prohibitions against using peremptory challenges to remove members of certain demographic groups. The relative effectiveness of traditional attorney-conducted jury selection (i.e., the use of implicit theories about juror behavior based on litigation experience) and scientific jury selection (i.e., the use of social science methods to identify demographic characteristics, personality traits, and attitudes that predict verdict preferences) is also discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of possible future directions for research on jury selection.