What We Do
The NCSC Center for Jury Studies has more than 30 years' experience advising state and federal courts on effective jury system management, including summoning and qualification procedures, juror orientation, jury system automation and jury trial practices.
Effective juror utilization minimizes the number of jurors who are not ultimately needed to select juries, thus conserving court resources and enhancing citizens' jury service experience.
The Center for Jury Studies has extensive experience evaluating demographic representation of the jury pool in state and federal courts and assisting courts to respond to challenges to the jury pool alleging violations of the Sixth Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Courts have implemented a number of new technology applications in jury automation to increase efficiency, create more meaningful management reports, and speed communication with jurors.
Internet-based communication technologies generally offer tremendous opportunities for increased efficiency and collaboration, but also pose substantial challenges to judges and lawyers in terms of maintaining the impartiality of jurors before and during trials.
Judges and lawyers have adopted a number of innovative practices to improve juror comprehension, performance, and satisfaction.
The primary objectives of an effective jury selection process are to elicit sufficient information for the judge and lawyers to make informed judgments about each juror’s ability to serve fairly and impartially, to respect jurors’ reasonable expectations of privacy, and to impanel a trial jury in a reasonable amount of time.
The NCSC Center for Jury Studies has conducted extensive research on the impact of various trial innovations on juror comprehension, performance, and satisfaction as well as providing education and information to various judicial and bar organizations on this topic.
The NCSC Center for Jury Instructions convened the first national conference on pattern jury instructions in 2008.
High-profile trials are among the most difficult to manage. The NCSC Center for Jury Studies provides proven strategies for effective trial management.
Proven strategies to minimize juror stress.