Juries In-depth: Privacy, Protection and Publicity

Overview

The issue of juror privacy arises routinely: most venirepersons and jurors prefer to keep their personal information private, while the interest of the judicial system is to have every aspect of the case open to public scrutiny. The need to protect jurors from outside influences arises routinely also, at a minimum, jurors are instructed not to discuss the case during the trial.  And privacy and protection concerns escalate with increasing levels of publicity about a case.  Thus, privacy, protection, and publicity issues are sometimes intertwined.

Probably the most drastic measure a judge can impose to guard jurors’ privacy and protect the jury from outside influences is to sequester the jury.  To read more about sequestration, click here. 

Another drastic measure to guard juror privacy and protect the jury from outside influences is the “anonymous jury,” that is, one where the names and addresses of the jurors are kept secret from the litigants and the public and the jurors are referred to only by number.  To read more about this relatively recent and very controversial technique, click here. 

There are less drastic measures concerning personal information in the jury selection process a judge can take to protect juror privacy, such as conducting voir dire individually in the judge’s chambers, or ordering some of the jury selection materials sealed from the public.  To read more about this, click here. 

One effect that substantial publicity sometimes prompts is a motion for a change of venue due to pretrial publicity that may have tainted the jury pool.  To learn more about this topic, click here. 

Americans (or at least the American media) can become so fascinated with certain high-profile cases that they turn into “media circuses.”  For a reading list concerning some of the problems caused by such extraordinarily publicized cases, click here. 

Jurors who become ex-jurors because the case has concluded still sometimes have privacy and protection concerns, particularly in highly-publicized cases (except for some jurors who revel in their brief celebrity status!).  To read about post-trial privacy and protection issues, click here.

 Finally, an issue that is just beginning to dawn on the consciousness of courts is juror stress.  To read about this issue, click here.