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The material criticizes reliance on stereotypes or “gut feeling,” explains why jurors tend to give expected “right” answers under artificial court settings, and emphasizes the need for thorough, meaningful voir dire to identify and remove biased jurors rather than to persuade them to abandon preconceived notions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":20,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/voir-dire-and-jury-selection-looking-for-a-different-more-effective-way-of-choosing-a-jury/501768/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/voir-dire-and-jury-selection-looking-for-a-different-more-effective-way-of-choosing-a-jury/501768.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Rhys","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-21","2026-10-03",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the document say traditional voir dire often produces a bad jury selection outcome?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It argues that lawyers ask bland or leading questions that feel comfortable but reveal little about jurors’ actual biases, beliefs, or willingness to accept the defense theory, so the selection process ends up relying on stereotypes or “gut feelings.”","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What does the document criticize about choosing jurors based on stereotypes or taking the “first twelve”?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It calls stereotyping (race, gender, age, ethnicity, class, etc.) arrogant and ineffective, and warns that automatically keeping early jurors without meaningful evaluation risks seating jurors who hold biases that affect their decisions.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the document explain why jurors may not answer voir dire honestly?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It states that the jury-selection process forces jurors into an artificial setting where they often know the expected “right” answers—through television, preliminary instructions, or questions framed around following the judge—so they answer conservatively to avoid trouble or appearing foolish.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},501768,1791450878,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":19,"category_name":20,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},687207024643,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","North Carolina Defender Trial School  \nSponsored by the  \nThe University of North Carolina School of Government and  \nOffice of Indigent Defense Services  \nChapel Hill, North Carolina  \nVOIR DIRE AND JURY SELECTION  \nIra Mickenberg  \n6 Saratoga Circle  \nSaratoga Springs, NY 12866  \n(518) 583-6730  \n[imickenberg@nycap.rr.com](imickenberg@nycap.rr.com)  \nThanks to Ann Roan and many other fine defenders for their advice and input.  \nLOOKING FOR A DIFFERENT, MORE EFFECTIVE WAY OF  \nCHOOSING A JURY  \nFor more than twenty years, I have been privileged to teach public defenders all over the country. And it pains me to conclude that when it comes to jury selection, almost all of us are doing a lousy job.  \nWhat passes for good voir dire is often glibness and a personal style that is comfortable with talking to strangers. The lawyer looks good and feels good but ends up knowing very little that is useful about the jurors.  \nMore typically, voir dire is awkward, and consists of bland questions that tell us virtually nothing about how receptive a juror will be to our theory of defense, or whether the juror harbors some prejudice or belief that will make him deadly to our client.  \nWe ask lots of leading questions about reasonable doubt, or presumption of innocence, or juror unanimity, or self defense, or witness truth-telling. Then when a juror responds positively to one of these questions, we convince ourselves that we have successfully “educated” the juror about our defense or about a principle of law. In reality, the juror is just giving us what she knows we want to hear, and we don’t know anything about her.  \nBecause the questions we are comfortable with asking elicit responses that don’t help us evaluate the juror, we fall back on stereotypes (race, gender, age, ethnicity, class, employment, hobbies, reading material) to decide which jurors to keep and which to challenge. Or even worse, we go with our “gut feeling” about whether we like the juror or the juror likes us.  \nAnd then we are surprised when what seemed like a good jury convicts our client.  \nThis short treatise, and the seminar it is meant to supplement, are a first effort at finding amore effective way of selecting jurors. It draws on:  \n• Scientific research done over the last decade or two about juror behavior and attitudes.  \n• Excellent work done by defenders in Colorado in devising a new and very effective method for voir dire in both capital and non-capital cases.  \n• Some very creative work done by defense lawyers all over the country.  \n• My own observations of too many trial transcripts from too many jurisdictions, in which good lawyers delude themselves into thinking that a comfortable voir dire has been an effective voir dire.  \nI. SOME BASIC THINGS ABOUT VOIR DIRE – WHY JURY SELECTION IS HARD. WHY WE FAIL.  \nA. It is suicidal to just “take the first twelve.” It is arrogant and stupid to choose jurors based on stereotypes of race, gender, age, ethnicity, or class.  \nEvery study ever done of jurors and their behavior tells us several things:  \n• People who come to jury duty bring with them many strong prejudices, biases, and preconceived notions about crime, trials, and criminal justice.  \n• Jurors are individuals. There is very little correlation between the stereotypical aspects of a juror’s makeup (race, gender, age, ethnicity, education, class, hobbies, reading material) and whether a particular juror may have one of those strong biases or preconceived notions in any individual case.  \n• The prejudices and ideas jurors bring to court affect the way they decide cases – even if they honestly believe they will be fair and even if they honestly believe they can set their preconceived notions aside.  \n• Jurors will decide cases based on their prejudices and preconceived notions regardless of what the judge may instruct them. Rehabilitation and curative instructions are completely meaningless.  \n• Many jurors don’t realize it, but they have made up their minds a","cbCaitA21YIkmEP2","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitA21YIkmEP2","pdf",421311,58,"English","# I. SOME BASIC THINGS ABOUT VOIR DIRE – WHY JURY SELECTION IS HARD. WHY WE FAIL.\n## A. It is suicidal to just “take the first twelve.” It is arrogant and stupid to choose jurors based on stereotypes of race, gender, age, ethnicity, or class.\n## B. Traditional voir dire is structured in a way that makes it very hard to disclose a juror’s preconceived notions\n## 1. Expected answers and juror self-protection in voir dire","[{\"question\":\"Why does the document say traditional voir dire often produces a bad jury selection outcome?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that lawyers ask bland or leading questions that feel comfortable but reveal little about jurors’ actual biases, beliefs, or willingness to accept the defense theory, so the selection process ends up relying on stereotypes or “gut feelings.”\"},{\"question\":\"What does the document criticize about choosing jurors based on stereotypes or taking the “first twelve”?\",\"answer\":\"It calls stereotyping (race, gender, age, ethnicity, class, etc.) arrogant and ineffective, and warns that automatically keeping early jurors without meaningful evaluation risks seating jurors who hold biases that affect their decisions.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the document explain why jurors may not answer voir dire honestly?\",\"answer\":\"It states that the jury-selection process forces jurors into an artificial setting where they often know the expected “right” answers—through television, preliminary instructions, or questions framed around following the judge—so they answer conservatively to avoid trouble or appearing foolish.\"}]","VOIR DIRE AND JURY SELECTION - LOOKING FOR A DIFFERENT, MORE EFFECTIVE WAY OF CHOOSING A JURY | PDF",1791024558,146]