State of the States Survey of Jury Improvement Efforts

The Local Court Survey allows you to select a state and view jury survey question responses. The state data is also compared to the total of all state jury survey responses (ie. the national survey figures). Survey topics include:

• survey respondent data
• jury reform efforts in the past 5 years
• jury reform efforts in the past 5 years
• focus of jury reform efforts
• numbers and types of source lists used by courts
• juror fees; length of term of service
• follow-up programs; jury yields
• numbers and types of jury trials
• types of jury technology used by courts
• types of juror information available to attorneys

The Judge and Attorney Survey allows you to select a state and view jury survey question responses. The state data is also compared to the total of all state jury survey responses (ie. the national survey figures) and federal data. Survey topics include:

• survey respondent data
• legal and evidentiary complexity of trials
• voir dire questioning methods
• length of voir dire; length of jury deliberations
• are jurors permitted to take notes, provided with notepaper/writing utensils/trial notebook
• are jurors permitted to submit questions to witnesses
• when are jurors permitted to discuss evidence
• when are jurors instructed; are they given written instructions
• are jurors given guidance on conducting deliberations
• do alternates deliberate, are jurors sequestered
• notorious or complex trials

State rankings based upon the survey results are available for the parameters listed below.

• Who questions during voir dire
• Length of voir dire - Civil
• Length of voir dire - Felony
• % of jurors questioned individually at sidebar/in chambers during voir dire
• % of jurors permitted to take notes
• % of jurors permitted to submit questions
• % of jurors instructed before closing arguments
• % of trials in which at least 1 copy of written instructions given to the jurors
• % of trials in which all jurors received written instructions.