The dismissal of the Littenhouse jury shows the risk of bias in large cases | Illinois News

“This is one of the most serious problems facing the criminal justice system in both state and federal courts,” said a former federal and state court heading the Institute for Judicial Reform and Innovation at Drake University Law School in Iowa. Official Mark Bennett said.

In some places, courts and judges have taken steps to educate juries, lawyers, and others about implicit bias. Questions to potential juries not only ask if they are fair, but also about the stereotypes and interactions they may have with others.

In some parts of Washington, potential juries are shown videos about implicit bias and are encouraged to ask questions such as what they thought about the video during the jury selection process. It’s not clear if that happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There, 20 people were seated in the Littenhouse jury a day. According to the judge, the 12 people who decided the case will be announced later.

Bennett, who wrote a jury statement on implicit bias and studied judge bias, said Schroeder had done the right thing to dismiss the jury. Anyone who jokes about Blake while in court during a jury mission doesn’t have “the way the judge wants” about the case, he said.

But Bennett also said that the day’s jury selection was not enough time to eradicate people with explicit or implicit prejudice, especially in racially polarized cases. In one major federal trial, Bennett took 14 days to select a jury. He also asked a potential jury to fill out a 99-question questionnaire at home, where they are likely to answer frankly, before coming to the jury’s selection process.

The dismissal of the Littenhouse jury shows the risk of bias in large cases | Illinois News

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