Jury Questionnaires

Jury questionnaires are often used during the voir dire process to help judges and attorneys identify prospective jurors who are not suitable for jury service. Jury questionnaires typically include items dealing with hardship or medical issues that may make it difficult for some individuals to serve as jurors. Often, at the discretion of the court, jury questionnaires may delve into experiences or opinions related to the case, sometimes in considerable detail. Of course, jury questionnaires are self-report measures that are vulnerable to forgetting, distortions, or deception. Lengthy jury questionnaires completed by a large group of prospective jurors can make it difficult to extract useful information in a short amount of time. Moreover, there are situations where trial attorneys would be ill-advised to request a detailed jury questionnaire.

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides defendants with the right to an impartial jury. Often a part of the voir dire process, jury questionnaires may help identify sources of bias in prospective jurors that may interfere with their impartiality or ability to follow the law. The fundamental assumption underlying the use of jury questionnaires is that people are more likely to disclose information on a survey than in open court, particularly information about sensitive issues. There is a general tendency for people to appear open-minded and to provide socially desirable responses to questions posed during attorneyor judge-conducted voir dire. In theory, jury questionnaires serve to measure more accurately the relevant attitudes, expectations, and experiences related to the case.

Generally used at the discretion of the court, generic jury questionnaires have become much more common throughout the United States. The format, content domain, and scope of the items vary considerably, but there is some common content. Most jury questionnaires tap into factors that may lead to a challenge for cause, reflecting a legitimate difficulty or problem with jury service. These items include hardship issues, such as having to care of an infant or elderly parent, serious financial difficulties, or other related factors. Other items common to jury questionnaires include those dealing with medical problems, disabilities, and the use of medication that might interfere with a prospective juror's ability to serve as a trier of fact. Most include a question relating to difficulties in reading or understanding the English language and [Page 416]difficulties with following the law as provided by the court. Finally, most jury questionnaires include some measures dealing with familiarity with the case (particularly if there was some pretrial publicity) and knowledge of the witnesses, lawyers, parties, or others associated with the case.

Beyond these typical items, jury questionnaires may delve into a number of other topics. Demographic items are common and often include those dealing with race or ethnic affiliation, gender, place of birth, and so forth. General experiences are also often measured: These usually include service in the U.S. military; jury experience; and prior involvement in the criminal or civil justice system as witness, plaintiff, defendant, or other party. Sometimes jury questionnaires delve into case-related experiences, such as having experience with complex business transactions, having been a victim of a workplace accident, or having personal experience with a drug dependency problem. Jury questionnaires may also include attitudinal items that could tap into constructs such as legal authoritarianism, juror bias, or beliefs about a just world, although entire scales are rarely included. More often, there is a focus on more narrow, case-related attitudes (e.g., Do you believe that politicians should be held to a higher standard of moral or ethical conduct than other people?). Finally, some jury questionnaires are quite detailed and delve into leisure activities, bumper stickers (presumably, these reflect jurors' values or concerns), newspaper readership, televisionviewing habits, and other items in the same vein. Indeed, jury questionnaires can be relatively short (10 items) or remarkably lengthy (exceeding 200 items).

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