NCJ Number
177712
Date Published
1998
Length
97 pages
Annotation
This manual identifies court policies, procedures, and practices consistent with standards for decreasing juror stress in all phases of jury service.
Abstract
Jurors experience numerous sources of stress at every stage of jury duty, even in routine trials. Beginning with the summons to jury service, they experience disruption of their daily routines, lengthy waits with little information and often in unpleasant surroundings, anxiety from the scrutiny of lawyers and the judge during voir dire, tension from sifting through conflicting versions of facts and unfamiliar legal concepts, conflicts during deliberations, and isolation following the verdict and their release from jury service. There is evidence that the desire to avoid such stress is one factor in the unwillingness of citizens to serve as jurors. The judicial system and its actors, including judges and court staff, constitute social forces that can exacerbate or help reduce juror stress levels. This manual discusses steps judges and court staff can take at each stage of the judicial process to alleviate rather than exacerbate the inevitable stress that comes with a jury summons. The manual identifies key stressors and strategies for addressing them within five major stages of the juror process: initial contacts, voir dire, trial, deliberations, and posttrial proceedings. The stressors addressed are perceived lack of control and predictability, inefficient use of time, unresponsive court staff, and unpleasant environment. The strategies proposed are based on findings from the general stress literature, suggestions from judges and jurors, and the results of current jury reform efforts. A 22-item bibliography and appended selected findings, questionnaire for judges on juror stress, and a jury duty survey