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11 Duke L. & Tech. Rev. 1 (2012-2013)
Ensuring an Impartial Jury in the Age of Social Media

handle is hein.journals/dltr11 and id is 1 raw text is: ENSURING AN IMPARTIAL JURY IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA HON. AMY J. ST. EVEt & MICHAEL A. ZUCKERMAN ABSTRACT The explosive growth of social networking has placed enormous pressure on one of the most fundamental of American institutions-the impartial jury. Through social networking services like Facebook and Twitter, jurors have committed significant and often high-profile acts of misconduct. Just recently, the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed a death sentence because a juror Tweeted about the case during deliberations. In light of the significant risks to a fair trial that arise when jurors communicate through social media during trial, judges must be vigilant in monitoring for potential outside influences and in deterring misconduct. In this Article, we present informal survey data from actual jurors on their use of social networking during trial. We discuss the rise of web-based social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and the concerns that arise when jurors communicate about a case through social media before returning a verdict. After surveying how courts have responded to jurors' social media use, we describe the results of the informal survey. The results support a growing consensus in the legal profession that courts should frequently, as a matter of course, instruct jurors not to use social media to communicate about trial. Although others have stressed the importance of jury instructions in this area, we hope that the informal survey data will further the dialogue by providing an important perspective-that of actual jurors. t United States District Court Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Judge St. Eve earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from Cornell Law School, and her B.S. from Cornell University. She was appointed to the federal district court in 2002, at the age of 36. Judge St. Eve is also an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern Law School. Law Clerk to the Hon. Amy J. St. Eve, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Zuckerman earned his J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School, and his B.S. from Cornell University. Mr. Zuckerman previously clerked for a federal appellate judge on the Sixth Circuit, and a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of New York. The authors would like to acknowledge the research assistance of Alyssa Cantor, a second- year law student at the University of Michigan, as well as the editorial assistance of Jonathan Kelley and his staff at the Duke Law & Technology Review.

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