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118 Mich. L. Rev. 1459 (2019-2020)
The Right to a Well-Rested Jury

handle is hein.journals/mlr118 and id is 1519 raw text is: NOTE THE RIGHT TO A WELL-RESTED JURY Caroline Howe* The vast amount of control that state trial judges exercise over the dynamics of their courtrooms is well established. The length of trial days and jury de- liberations, however, has received little scholarly attention. Longstanding re- search has conclusively established the disruptive effects of sleep deprivation on many of the mental facilities necessary for juries to competently fulfill their duties. By depriving juries of sleep, trial judges may be compromising the fair rights of criminal defendants for the sake of efficiency. This Note ar- gues that trial judges must use their discretion to ensure juries are well rested, keeping jurors' needs in mind. Further, state legislatures have a responsibility to properly fund state courts and to pass legislation that ensures overlong tri- al days do not impact verdicts handed down. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................1460 I. CONSTITUTIONAL UNDERPINNINGS OF THE RIGHT TO A WELL-RESTED TRIAL.....................................................................1464 A. Right to a Fair Trial ...............................................................1465 B. Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel ...............................1466 C. Right to a Speedy Trial...........................................................1469 II. THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION.........................................1471 A. Making Moral Judgments......................................................1471 B. Heightened Emotions and Irrationality ...............................1473 C. Focus and Forgetfulness .........................................................1474 D. Length of Sleep Deprivation ..................................................1475 E. O ther A reas of the Law ..........................................................1475 III. MAKING JUDICIAL DISCRETION OPERATE MORE EFFECTIVELY ..................................................................................1479 A. Judicial Discretion ..................................................................1479 * J.D., May 2019, University of Michigan Law School. Thank you to my wonderful parents for all of their support. Thank you to the members of the Michigan Law Review, espe- cially Kristin Froehle, the Notes Office, and my two amazing Notes editors, Sarah Mezera and Samantha Jaffe. 1459

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