Over 180,000 Minnesotans are summoned for jury service every year. Service may be compulsory, but few are actually chosen to this powerful and exclusive club. If you have recently been called up for jury duty in Ramsey County, you are apt to have questions, particularly regarding what you “can-and-can’t do” where your electronic communication habits are concerned. (Example: In a recent trial, a judge required the jurors to provide information to their Twitter accounts.) For answers to some of these questions and other information, see the Courts webpage.
Are you a practitioner planning your voir dire questions for an upcoming jury trial? Consider reading Inside Jurors’ Minds:The Hierarchy of Juror Decision-Making by Carol Anderson (NITA 2012). This book is basically a psychology primer for litigators. Anderson explains how it is impossible for jurors not to apply the same cognitive tools in court that they use for everyday decision-making. So despite any careful instructions presented to them about keeping an open mind and so forth, jurors still bring their lifetimes of mental baggage and preconceptions into the jury box. As human beings they really have no choice. According to Anderson, good litigation strategy depends on recognizing these tendencies that we all possess and making a game plan with them in mind.
For those litigators seeking more news and information pertaining to juries, an interesting blog is available here. (Note: Most of this information is presented with Florida law in mind.) Jurors Behaving Badly is a less formal but still informative blog aimed at jurors, courtesy of Judge Steve Halsey of Minnesota’s 10th Judicial District.
