Jury Selection as Political Action

• NCJ Number: 75457
• Author(s): D L Fowlkes; L E Noble; B Bray
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Eric Document Reproduction Service
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Prepared for delivery at the 1977 Annual Meeting of The American Political Science Association, The Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington D.C., September 1-4, 1977.

Annotation

Three political scientists diagnose the current state of political influence on jury selection in political trials, based on personal experience; the literature of political theory, justice, and law; and the recent action of lawyers, judges, defense committees, and some defendants.

Abstract

Political trials are formal examinations of persons who have threatened governmental authority. The trials of Huey Newton, Angela Davis, the Chicago 8, and Dr. Spock are examples. The article states that in order to convert political knowledge into political action, political action must be combined with social science research so that hidden resources of political knowledge are revealed. Current constitutional and legal procedures are described that make it possible for those participating in the jury selection process to structure the jury to be sympathetic to their cause and subject to manipulation from the bench. A systematic approach to jury selection using a number of means to challenge unrepresentative jury pools and to select particular trial juries has grown and developed. Some of the techniques used by those challenging traditional jury selection methods include jury composition studies, community attitude surveys, community network surveys, voir dire techniques, courtroom observation, and analysis of potential jurors' verbal and nonverbal behavior. The article states that every aspect of jury selection can be used to counter-socialize people, including broadening the jury pool to change the composition of juries, using results of community attitude surveys to get changes of venue in sensitive trials, and, most effective of all, the work of the defense committee to take surveys, provide logistical support to the defense team, and affect the selection of particular juries. The article further states that activists should consider the potential for political action during political trials and that political scientists should give serious philosophical and empirical attention to political trials, should reflect on the possibilities for political action through involvement in such trials, and should absorb into political science the concomitant development of knowledge about this area where politics and justice mix. Footnotes and a reading list are included. (ERIC abstract modified)