“SciCourt is a good idea because people need to practice and develop a norm of sitting down with a heavy-duty controversy, looking at the evidence and putting their brains together to figure out how to make the best decision.” -Susan Macphearson, Litigation Consultant.
Finding the right jury for any case can be a daunting task, and SciCourt students will be soon be looking for a jury to tackle our case. That’s why Susan Macpherson, a litigation consultant, came to give us tips and advice about how to select a heterogenous jury. She revealed the difference between verdict-driven and evidence-driven jurors:
- Verdict-driven jurors who know what they think about the case. These jurors already know what they think the verdict should be before the case starts.
- Evidence-driven jurors who look at the evidence and facts and then they make a decision after evidence is presented.
The goal of jury selection is to find evidence-driven jurors. But even with evidence driven jurors you still have bias, because of the fact that everyone's mind works differently.
McPherson’s suggestion to help combat this bias is to get a diverse jury, because it can beneficial in many ways:
- Diverse juries can have a better memory, because different things will stick out to different types of people.
- People can also spot others biases and point them out so they can recognize their own bias.
- Diverse juries check and balance each other.
Diverse jurors can often lead to divided juries, but according to Macpherson, this is not a problem. “Being divided is setting the stage for a good discussion," she said. Macpherson also suggested sticking to a consensus rule in order to maximize discussion. The danger of a consensus rule is that jurors might not come to an agreement. Macpherson’s response? “If you don’t get an answer, it’s because the evidence was not strong enough to convince everyone.”
Although she says that there are flaws in the jury system (lack of diversity in juries, some judges not allowing jurors to take notes or ask any questions, some judges not letting jurors know the laws before listening to the evidence), Macpherson has tremendous faith in the process. In part, she believes in the people who make up the jury. “People really feel the responsibility and really do try to what is right,” she added.
If you would like to be a member of our jury, click here!