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Journal Article Link 13.1: Halsted, J. (1987). The American Grand Jury -- Due Process or Rights Regress? Criminal Justice Policy Review, 2(2), 103-117.

The grand jury system and due process rights generally are recognized as two of the great "checks" in protecting private citizens from the inherent dangers that may exist should the executive branch of the government be tempted to use the criminal justice system as a vehicle for its own political purposes. These historical checks, however, seem to have dissolved in present practices and procedures implemented by federal prosecutors in their investigations of public officials. A paradigm example of this is the grand jury investigation of Walter L. Nixon, Jr., United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. Nixon was convicted of two counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury. This author was present throughout the entire Nixon trial. Copious notes were taken and verified by cross-checking them with the trial transcript. What Nixon's case dramatizes is the fundamental problems inherent within the grand jury system: specifically, that prosecutors have the power to use the federal grand jury system to deny systematically grand jury targets their usual due process rights and then to subject them to criminal liability for perjury which is manufactured only because the targets are processed through the grand jury process itself.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?

Journal Article Link 13.2: Benokraitis, N. (1982). Racial Exclusion in Juries. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 18(1), 29-47.

This study examines the norms of jury selection, determines which norms are most important in qualifying individuals for jury service, and discusses how the interpretation and application of these norms influence the racial composition of juries as blacks progress from the jury list to the jury panel and to the jury box. The data come from a questionnaire survey of 1,551 legal personnel-district clerks, jury commissioners, state attorneys, defense attorneys, and judges-who are most directly associated with state petit trial juries in 325 counties of eight Southern states with large black populations. The results indicate that blacks are significantly underrepresented at several jury selection stages. Some of the reasons for this underrepresentation are related to unsupervised and unauthorized discretionary jury selection procedures and the systematic striking of blacks.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?

Journal Article Link 13.3: Clark, J., Boccaccini, M., Caillouet, B., & Chaplin, W. (2007). Five Factor Model Personality Traits, Jury Selection, and Case Outcomes in Criminal and Civil Cases. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34(5), 641-660.

Actual venire members ( N = 764) completed the Big Five Inventory before going through the jury selection process for 1 of 11 criminal or 17 civil trials. Jury selection decisions by attorneys were not associated with juror personality traits but were associated with juror race and sex, especially in criminal cases. In the 17 juries that deliberated to a verdict (n = 285), high levels of juror extraversion were associated with not guilty verdicts or verdicts for the defendant, especially in criminal cases. Extraversion was also associated with being selected as a jury foreperson, and foreperson extraversion was associated with longer jury deliberation times and perceived foreperson influence in criminal cases.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?