A jury is a group of people who, during the trial, recognizes specific facts as established and makes a decision on the guilt of the defendant. The procedure for selecting a jury is called voir dire (“to tell the truth”). The selection is random and is usually carried out according to electoral lists. A candidate can refuse to be a juror if they have good reasons for this. The task of those who select jurors is to determine the individual characteristics necessary for the panel members and to choose the people who possess them. Until recently, jurors’ choice was the prerogative of lawyers, who, when selecting a panel, were based on their ideas about what character traits different people have. Currently, the care of choosing candidates lies with psychologists who apply various psychological concepts for correct selection.
The main difference between a jury trial and other forms of judicial proceedings is that the decision on the guilt or innocence of the defendant is made in it by a panel of non – professional judges-jurors, people who do not have a legal education. In particular, the jury’s task is to analyze the evidence presented during the judicial investigation and make a decision on the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The jury should be impartial and fair, and the task of a psychologist is to select exactly such a group of people. In this regard, before being selected to participate in the verdict in court, people undergo thorough testing for psychological aspects.
The role of jurors is quite complex since a decision is made on a specific court case based on their opinion. Thus, the selection of jurors is approached with special attention. Not only lawyers but also psychologists participate in the work on jurors’ choice to exclude biased people. Psychologists have various methods of selecting jurors, for example, the study of jury stereotypes. It is essential that the jury is not subject to stereotypical thinking and does not make decisions based on this. It is impossible to assess whether a person is guilty or not based on their race or material condition.
Psychologists also evaluate the internal and external attribution of jurors. Internal attribution refers to the characteristics of a person’s personality the external circumstances relate to (Davies, 2017). That is, people often make conclusions based on one of the attributions excluding the other, which significantly affects the decision on the current case. In addition, there is a protective attribution that affects a person’s subconscious, and they believe that a similar situation can happen to them, and conclusions are drawn based on this.
Psychologists test a person for bias concerning emotional issues and life experience. Based on their emotional perceptions, people can make the wrong choice and ignore the information announced during the court proceedings. They return to the opinions formed in advance and skip the new report, eventually leading to negative consequences. Jurors should be able to exclude the emotional component and stereotypes during the decision-making about the verdict (Greene and Heilbrun, 2021). Furthermore, emotions must not take precedence over logic, which is the direction psychologists are testing.
In conclusion, the work of a psychologist in the selection of jurors is necessary. When making decisions, it is imperative to exclude many areas of human life that can influence decision-making since this decision should be as competent as possible. In addition, decisions should not be based on stereotypical thinking and people’s fears of being in a similar situation because all this significantly affects the decision made.
References
Davies G. (2017). The jury under fire: myth, controversy, and reform, by Brian H. Bornstein and Edie Greene. Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, 24(4), 640–642. Web.
Greene, E. & Heilbrun, K. (2021). Wrightsman’s Psychology and the Legal System. Cengage.