NCJ Number
156805
Journal
Trial Volume: 31 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1995) Pages: 34-37
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
In J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution prohibits gender-based peremptory challenges to prospective jurors.
Abstract
The decision rested on the premise that the need to use gender in exercising peremptory challenges in less important than the need to eradicate the use of gender in selecting juries. However, research shows that men and women often differ in how they perceive events and how they reason; therefore, particularly in cases involving sexual harassment or rape, gender might make a great deal of difference in how a juror acts. Therefore, the real question is whether peremptory challenges based on gender are necessary to provide a fair trial in these cases. In the framework of equal protection law, gender-based peremptory challenges can be defended as substantially related to the important interest of having the fairest possible trials. 27 notes