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40 Judges J. 34 (2001)
The Technological Juror

handle is hein.journals/judgej40 and id is 177 raw text is: [ICOURTOO TEHOLG I Ir~ The Technological Juror By Nancy S. Marder The jury is at a unique juncture: it is an ancient institution that needs to embrace the tools of modernity. Every day American juries decide cases that involve lengthy trials, complicated facts, and/or extensive expert testimony. Even as trials become more complex, the tools that courts give jurors to perform their tasks have remained essentially unchanged since our nation's founding. Rather than criticize the jury as inade- quate to the task, why not update the tools that jurors have at their disposal? Technological advances have become so widespread that even lawyers mad judges have begun to experiment with ways in which technology can help them to per- form their jobs in the courtroom.I It is time to consider how technology can enable juries to perform their decision making as effectively as possible. Innovative Uses of Technology for Prospective Jurors Several courts are already experi- menting with ways to use the Internet to provide prospective jurors with informa- tion about their tasks even before they step into a courtroom. A number of courts have created Websites that provide prospective jurors with maps and direc- tions to the courthouse.2 Armed with this information, prospective jurors can pro- ceed with confidence, knowing routes to take, places to park, and areas to avoid so that they arrive safely at the court- Nancy S. Marder, a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, teaches a course titled Juries, Judges, & Trials. She has written numerous law review articles on the jury and is currently working on a book entitled The Jury Process. Many courts also use the Internet to provide prospective jurors with basic information about their role as jurors. house. Some courts have gone one step further: they provide a virtual tour of the courthouse on the Internet.3 As a result, prospective jurors know not only how to reach the courthouse, but also how to proceed once they are there. Many courts also use the Internet to provide prospective jurors with basic information about their role as jurors. Some courts offer a glossary of legal terms;4 others provide a section with answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).5 The questions range from the theoretical, What does the office of jury administration do? to the practical Are there phones and vending machines in the jury room?6 Courts are beginning to use the Internet to provide prospective jurors with information that they receive in other forms already. For example, courts typically mail prospective jurors a hand- book to educate them about their duties as jurors; now a number of courts make the handbook available online.7 In many courthouses, prospective jurors are ush- ered into a room where they watch a film or video providing general information about being a juror.8 Now, some courts, such as those in Florida and Georgia, produce an orientation video that prospective jurors can watch on the Web;9 thus, prospective jurors can view the video at their convenience and in the comfort of their own homes. Courts use the Internet not only to provide prospective jurors with general information, but also to conduct business that in the past would have required a trip to the courthouse. For example, in Georgia, California, and Connecticut, prospective jurors can go online and check their status to see if they are need- ed in court that day.10 This allows them to avoid additional trips to court and interminable waits on the telephone. Some courts in a number of states, including Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and Massachusetts, use the Internet to allow prospective jurors to seek hardship excuses or postponements of jury ser- vice.II Other courts allow prospective jurors to complete online questionnaires, which they would ordinarily have com- pleted in the jury assembly room.12 High-Technology Tools for Jurors Technology has a role to play not only as prospective jurors prepare for jury duty, but also after they have been selected to serve on a jury. At one end of the spectrum, there are high-technology tools to assist jurors in their decision making. Some courts permit videocon- ferencing for remote testimony of expert witnesses. Such a presentation tends to shorten the testimony and enables jurors to take the videotape into the jury room to review the testimony during their deliberations. Another example of high-technology that can aid jurors is the use of video presenters with monitors for jurors.13 This technology allows lawyers to con- nect their laptop computers to the pre- senter and highlight details of exhibits or transcripts that jurors can watch on the monitors before them. Jurors can follow the lawyer's point as he or she makes it, rather than merely glimpsing an exhibit that is passed among the jurors even as the lawyer has moved on to the next argument or piece of evidence. This mode of presentation might also be more familiar to the next generation of jurors who are accustomed to obtaining infor- mation by television or computer. Although this technology is relatively

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