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Jury
Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A
court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up.
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960
KEY WORDS
Key terms to understand for this chapter
OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you should be able to
Explain the meaning of a jury of ones peers.
Describe how a jury is selected.
Identify the reasons that a potential juror may be
challenged for cause.
Define peremptory challenges and discuss the
restrictions on the use of peremptory challenges.
Explain the rationale behind the sequestering of a jury.
Discuss the future of the jury system.
Explain how a jury panel is selected.
Procedures in the Justice System, Ninth Edition
By Cliff Roberson, Harvey Wallace, and Gilbert Stuckey
INTRODUCTION
Before selection of a jury a few questions need to be
answered.
Who are the persons who serve on a jury?
Where do they come from?
What qualities must they possess to qualify as jurors?
By the time jurors reach the jury box, it will likely have
been determined they are qualified to act as a juror.
If anyone seated does not possess qualifications, that
juror will be excused and another will replace him/her.
If either prosecuting or defense
attorney knows a juror is not
qualified, they may challenge
the jurors right to serve.
for example, it may be known
one of the jurors has been
convicted of a felony
Procedures in the Justice System, Ninth Edition
By Cliff Roberson, Harvey Wallace, and Gilbert Stuckey
Premptory Challenge
Premptory Challenge
Prohibiting the Challenge
Premptory Challenge
Holding the Challenge in Reserve
Accepting Jurors
Alternate Jurors
Alternate Jurors
Once the jury has been selected and sworn in, the judge
must decide if it is to be sequestered, or locked up.
when sequestered, it is segregated from all outside contact to
protect from possible outside influence in arriving at a verdict
SUMMARY
Important topics for this chapter
The only qualification set forth in the Sixth
Amendment is that a jury be an impartial jury.
The concept of a jury of one's peers actually refers to a
jury that is selected fairly and impartially from a cross
section of the community.
Procedures for selecting a jury vary from state to state.
Jurors must be US citizens, eighteen years of age or
older, and residents of the judicial district for a
specified period of time.
Procedures in the Justice System, Ninth Edition
By Cliff Roberson, Harvey Wallace, and Gilbert Stuckey
SUMMARY
(cont.)
(cont.)
SUMMARY
Important topics for this chapter
The primary reason for sequestering a jury is to
eliminate possible outside influence.
Chapter End