PSYCH 3CC3 Lecture Notes - Hung Jury, Reasonable Doubt, Prior Probability

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 3CC3
• Professor: Richard B Day

Document Summary

Jury selection: field engaged in in the united states mostly. Pretrial publicity: issue in the u. s. only. In canada the judge can ban the publication of court cases. Dates back to 40 years ago during the nixon administration. Government decided to prosecute seven war protesters. Chose harrisburg pennsylvania as it was a conservative district and were favourable towards the vietnam war. Level the playing field by selecting the jury. Telephone interviews to those who were eligible. Detailed questions about individuals beliefs about government, etc. Determine the kinds of people who are going to have attitudes more favourable to the defence. Indicate the questions which would discriminate those to be selected. Who should be selected and who should be rejected from the jury. Final result was a hung jury: only 2 for conviction. Jay schulman lead this team, and founded the natoinal jury project. Purpose to help attorneys make appropriate boidere decisions about who should be on the jury.