NCJ Number
155252
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1995) Pages: 129-151
Date Published
1995
Length
23 pages
Annotation
The impact of different voir dire styles was explored using subjects who listened to a directive voir dire, a nondirective voir dire, a judge alone, or nothing; a subset of each subject group then responded to a voir dire conducted in either a directive or a nondirective fashion.
Abstract
A total of 120 subjects participated in the experiment, with 30 subjects in each of the four listening conditions. Listening to a voir dire tended to educate subjects about the law more than hearing only the judge explain the law. Those who underwent a nondirective voir dire were rated as more self-disclosing and were more willing to admit their inability to abide by legal due process guarantees. Hearing a voir dire led to significantly greater endorsement of the two least understood due process guarantees, the defendant not having to take the witness stand and the defense having no obligation to present evidence. The authors conclude that a nondirective voir dire style is more effective in uncovering grounds for cause challenges than a directive voir dire style. They suggest that courts should pay more attention to the consequences of jurors hearing other people's responses in a group voir dire and to the potential value of a nondirective voir dire style in striving to obtain fair and impartial juries. The legal issues questionnaire used in the experiment is appended. 36 references, 2 notes, and 3 tables