Abstract
This Article examines American prosecutors' approaches to uncertainty during voir dire. At different points during trial preparation and during jury selection itself-- lawyers draw on multiple interpretive systems to make sense of ordinary citizens. Taking Assistant United States Attorneys in a federal jurisdiction in the Northeast United States as a case study, and drawing on ethnographic research, I focus on three systems prosecutors alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) use to evaluate jurors: (1) probabilistic and evaluative analogies, (2) juror-types generated from the details of criminal cases, and (3) local knowledge stemming from prosecutors' relationships and experiences outside of the courtroom. I show how each interpretive approach renders an inherently unpredictable process (voir dire) and unknown people (prospective jurors) intelligible. I conclude by underscoring the value of ethnographic research to studies of prosecutorial strategy and the legal profession.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2016
Publication Information
6 U.C. Irvine Law Review 169-206 (2016)
Repository Citation
Offit, Anna, "Peer Review: Navigating Uncertainty in the United States Jury System" (2016). Faculty Publications. 2456.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/2456