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Report on Seven Experiments Conducted by District Court Judges in the Second Circuit

NCJ Number
109666
Journal
New York University Law Review Volume: 60 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1985) Pages: 423-497
Author(s)
L B Sand; S A Reiss
Date Published
1985
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This article reports the unique experiments of the Second Circuit Committee on Juries, under whose direction judges adopted seven innovative procedures to see whether they would improve the functioning of the jury.
Abstract
The report describes the procedures, summarizes the reactions of the judges and attorneys involved, and provides the instructions and questionnaires used to elicit participants' assessments of the procedures' feasibility and utility. The seven procedures tested were: (1) permitting a 10-minute voir dire by counsel, (2) individual voir dire questioning of jury panelists conducted out of the presence of the other panelists, (3) preinstructing the jury, (4) permitting jurors to submit questions for witnesses, (5) permitting juror note taking, (6) furnishing jurors with a postdelivery copy of the charge, and (7) furnishing jurors with a tape recording of the charge. Although the experiments offer some empirical support for implementation, their primary purpose was to allay judges' concerns and encourage further experimentation. Tables and 118 footnotes. (Author abstract modified)

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