Practical Jury Dynamics2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword
10 Practical Features of this Book

Prologue
Forethoughts to the Second Edition

PART I: STUDYING JURORS
Chapter 1. KNOWING JURORS
1-1. Three Jury Epiphanies
1-2. The Mystery of Jury Deliberations
1-3. The Problems of Jury Research

PART II: THE BIO-PHYSIOLOGY OF A JUROR’S BRAIN
Chapter 2. THE MIND IS A CRAZY QUILT
2-1. The Crowd Living in a Juror’s Mind
2-2. How a Juror Becomes Aware of a “Fact.”
2-3. Juror Listening and Attention Errors
2-4. Biological Basis for Attention

Chapter 3. “TRIALS” ARE IN THE BRAINS OF THE BEHOLDERS
3-1. The Influence of Color Perception
3-2. Remembering and Forgetting

Chapter 4. RIGHT MIND/LEFT MIND? HOW OUR BRAIN’S HEMISPHERES REALLY FUNCTION
4-1. Right Mind/Left Mind
4-2. Regions of the Brain That Process Language

Chapter 5. FROM JUROR-COGNITION TO JUROR-EMOTION
5-1. The Purpose of Emotions in Human Survival
5-2. Physiology of Jurors’ Emotions When They Judge Other People’s Behaviors
5-3. How Emotional Arousal Impacts Juror Thinking about Other People
5-4. The Vividness Effect: Sensual Persuasion
5-5. The Velcro® Effect
5-6. The Effects of Juror Mood on Juror Reasoning
5-7. Deliberating Under the Influence of Stress
5-8. The Effect of Stress on Citizens Selected for Jury Duty
5-9. Anxiety: A Traveling Companion of Juror Stress
5-10. The Effect of Sleep Debt on Juror Competency

Chapter 6. BELIEFS AND THINKING
6-1. Biology of Beliefs
6-2. A Juror’s TiVo® Mind
6-3. Religious Beliefs
6-4. The God Factor
6-5. Differences that Make a Difference in Juror Thinking
6-6. Juror Thinking about God and Science

Chapter 7. THINKING UNAWARE
7-1. Blink
7-2. Mental Leaps

PART III: THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF A JUROR’S PERCEPTIONS
Chapter 8. FROM A FOCUS ON SELLING TOWARDS A FOCUS ON BUYING
8-1. Information Anxiety
8-2. Creating Empty Spaces as Evidence
8-3. Toxic Language

Chapter 9. HOW THE JUROR’S BRAIN TALKS TO ITSELF DURING TRIAL
9-1. Mental Filters and Misperceptions
9-2. Social Perception: What a Juror Sees Is What You Get
9-3. Mental Short-Cuts a Juror Uses in Perception
9-4. The Influence of Juror Categories and Schemas

Chapter 10. A JUROR’S SOCIAL THINKING: How a Juror Makes Sense of the Behaviors of Other People
10-1. Social Thinking and Juror Decision Making
10-2. Juror Attributions
10-3. The Effect of Novel Events
10-4. Fundamental Attribution Error
10-5. False Consensus Error
10-6. False Uniqueness Error
10-7. Attributions of Blame
10-8. Locus of Control
10-9. Cracked Perceptual Lenses
10-10. A Practical Approach to Gaining Access to Juror Attitudes

Chapter 11. THE DILEMMA OF A JUROR’S UN-THINKING TASK
11-1. Intrusive Thoughts
11-2. Controlled Un-Believing
11-3. A Juror’s Cognitive Load
11-4. The Bad Experience Closet
11-5. The Set-it-Aside Agenda

Chapter 12. IMPERFECT THINKING
12-1. Machine-Thinking
12-2. Wabi-Sabi Minds
12-3. Thinking in Paradox

Chapter 13. SYMBOLIC THINKING
13-1. God Words and Devil Words
13-2. Metaphor and Thought

PART IV: THE EFFECTS OF GROUP DYNAMICS ON A JUROR’S VOTE
Chapter 14. THE WORK OF JURY WORK: WHEN INDIVIDUAL JURORS BECOME A GROUP
14-1. The Faulty Norms of Jury Deliberations
14-2. Changing the Way Jurors Deliberate

Chapter 15. SOCIAL VERDICTS (THE RELATIONAL SIDE OF JURY DECISION-MAKING)
15-1. Symbolic Convergence Theory: Groups and Fantasies
15-2. Social Opinions
15-3. Social Cliques
15-4. Primary Tension and Secondary Tension: What Blocks the Jury’s Task?
15-5. Mars and Venus Deliberate--Gender in the Jury Room
15-6. Salads, Stews, and Surprising Effects of Juror Diversity

Chapter 16. EMOTIONAL DELIBERATIONS
16-1. Emotional Persuasion
16-2. Laughing on the Road to a Verdict
16-3. Effects of Emotion on Juror Mood
16-4. Emotional Argument
16-5. Angry Argument: All People Are Afraid of the Anger of Others
16-6. Emotional Pollution
16-7. Groupmood

Chapter 17. JUROR COMPETENCY
17-1. A Juror’s Trial Task (Competent to do what, exactly?)
17-2. Juiced Jurors
17-3. Multitasking Jurors
17-4. Fluctuating Competency
17-5. Juror Accommodation

Chapter 18. JUROR COMPASSION
18-1. Compassion in the Courtroom
18-2. Measuring Compassion

Chapter 19. THE SHADOW SIDE OF JURY DECISION MAKING
19-1. Grouphate
19-2. Social Loafing
19-3. Missing in Action! Jurors Who Disappear in the Jury Room
19-4. Toxic Jurors
19-5. Seizing Speaking Turns
19-6. What Really Happens When One Juror Leaves the Room
19-7. Improperly Speculating
19-8. Ignoring Misconduct of Fellow Jurors
19-9. The Shadow Side of Jury Leadership
19-10. The Consensus Disease

Chapter 20. DECISIONAL REGRET IN THE JURY ROOM
20-1. Juror Overconfidence
20-2. Counterfactual Thinking: Changing the Facts
20-3. Woulda/Coulda/Shoulda Minefields
20-4. Why Deliberations Are a Set-Up for Woulda/Coulda/Shoulda Thinking
20-5. A Storied Theory of Jury Deliberations
20-6. Regret Contagion, GroupRegret, and Decisional Avoidance
20-7. Story Plugs

20-8. Coherence-Based Reasoning Theory

Chapter 21. RE-THINKING
21-1. Juror Flipping
21-2. Ignoring Regret
21-3. If-Only Thinking
21-4. Binge-Think

Chapter 22. STORY-THINKING AND FANTASIES DURING DELIBERATIONS
23-1. The Storymaking-Mind of a Juror
22-2. Story Battles in Deliberation
22-3. Opening the Jury Room’s Door: Making Sense of the Story Battles
22-4. Storytelling Functions in Deliberations
22-5. When Fantasies Collide: Symbolic Convergence Theory and Jury Decision Making
22-6. Story Strategies for Attorneys

Chapter 23. JURY-JOINING
23-1. Collaborative Dialogues: How to Discuss What Matters Most
23-2. Non-Question Voir Dire
23-3. Collaborating on Solutions
23-4. Collaborative Challenges for Cause
23-5. Collaborative Closing Arguments

Chapter 24. OPENING WINDOWS TO THE BLACK BOX OF JURY DELIBERATIONS
24-1. Curing Ignorance about Jurors’ Rights
24-2. Reasons Jurors Think They Shouldn’t Communicate with the Judge
24-3. Gaining An Ear to the Jury Wall
24-4. Why Jurors Protect Bad Jurors
24-5. Toxic Bailiffs: The Virus Every Jury Is Exposed To
24-6. Exposing the Myths of Juries and Jurors

PART V: TRIAL CULTURE
Chapter 25 NEW TOOLS FOR EVERY TRIAL
25-1. How a Juror Listens to an Expert’s Opinion
25-2. Organizing Juror Information
25-3. Jury Markers
25-4. Practical Juror Motions
25-5. Tools for Learning About Jury Pools

Chapter 26. STRUCTURES THAT INFLUENCE THINKING
26-1. Jury Studies: Updates
26-2. Jury Reform

Chapter 27. THINKING UPSIDE DOWN
27-1. When Jurors Rebut Your Closing
27-2. PlayingAttention with the Final Act of Jurying

Chapter 28. PAYING ATTENTION TO THE COMPLEX CULTURE OF TRIALS
28-1. Enculturation: How Jurors Get Sucked Into a Strange System
28-2. Twenty Stressful Realities of a Juror’s Experience

Chapter 29. THE ELECTRONIC-MEDIATED JUROR
29-1. The Google™ Effect
29-2. Cell Phones
29-3. Social Network Sites as Unconfronted Trial Evidence
29-4. The Blog Effect

Chapter 30. REDUCING TOXIC TRIAL STRESS
30-1. Avoiding The Helper’s Pit
30-2. Empathy-Driven versus Distress-Driven Advocacy
30-3. Ever Aftering, in Practical Ways
30-3(a). The Janus Effect

APPENDICES: RESOURCES, BOOKS, MATERIALS, TOOLS
Principles For Juries And Jury Trials, American Jury Project
Principle 1 -- The Right To Jury Trial Shall Be Preserved
Principle 2 -- Citizens Have The Right To Participate In Jury Service And Their Service Should Be Facilitated
Principle 3 -- Juries Should Have 12 Members
Principle 4 -- Jury Decisions Should Be Unanimous
Principle 5 -- It Is The Duty Of The Courts To Enforce And Protect The Rights To Jury Trial And Jury Service
Principle 6 -- Courts Should Educate Jurors Regarding The Essential Aspects Of A Jury Trial
Principle 7 -- Courts Should Protect Juror Privacy Insofar As Consistent With The Requirements Of Justice And The Public Interest
Principle 8 -- Individuals Selected To Serve On A Jury Have An Ongoing Interest In Completing Their Service
Principle 9 -- Courts Should Conduct Jury Trials In The Venue Required By Applicable Law Or The Interests Of Justice
Principle 10 -- Courts Should Use Open, Fair And Flexible Procedures To Select A Representative Pool Of Prospective Jurors
Principle 11 -- Courts Should Ensure That The Process Used To Empanel Jurors Effectively Serves The Goal Of Assembling A Fair And Impartial Jury
Principle 12 -- Courts Should Limit The Length Of Jury Trials Insofar As Justice Allows And Jurors Should Be Fully Informed Of The Trial Schedule Established
Principle 13 -- The Court And Parties Should Vigorously Promote Juror Understanding Of The Facts And The Law
Principle 14 --The Court Should Instruct The Jury In Plain And Understandable Language Regarding The Applicable Law And The Conduct Of Deliberations
Principle 15 -- Courts And Parties Have A Duty To Facilitate Effective And Impartial Deliberations
Principle 16 -- Deliberating Jurors Should Be Offered Assistance When An Apparent Impasse Is Reported
Principle 17 -- Trial And Appellate Courts Should Afford Jury Decisions The Greatest Deference Consistent With Law
Principle 18 -- Courts Should Give Jurors Legally Permissible Post-Verdict Advice And Information
Principle 19 -- Appropriate Inquiries Into Allegations Of Juror Misconduct Should Be Promptly Undertaken By The Trial Court

Resources and Tools
   Browse the Stacks
Gratitudes
Who Is the Author?
Endnotes
Index