Jurors Log Off After Being Sworn In, Court Survey Shows All those warnings judges give jurors about not tweeting, posting on Facebook or otherwise sharing information about a trial online seem to be working. A new study shows jurors are mostly behaving when it comes to social media. The Federal Judicial Center, the judiciary’s education and research agency, sent surveys in late 2013 to active and senior federal trial judges across the county. Of the 494 judges who responded, 33 reported at least one instance of a juror using social media during a trial over the past two years. That was roughly the same number of judges who reported social media use by jurors in a previous survey by the center in 2011. When asked whether they directly addressed social-media use with jurors, all but 19 of the 475 judges who answered that question said they did. Compared with the 2011 survey, more judges in 2013 reported feeling that the measures they took to warn jurors against using social media while serving were “very successful.” The center found that although the number of judges reporting social-media use by jurors stayed about the same, there was an increase in jurors using those sites to share confidential case information. In a few cases, jurors attempted to contact people involved in a case they were hearing through social media. Judges were also asked about instances when attorneys appearing before them used social media to do research on prospective jurors. Of the 348 judges who replied to that question, 73 percent said they didn’t know. The survey asked judges if they had rules governing social-media research by attorneys. Of the 466 judges who responded to that question, 120 said they forbade social-media research on jurors, and 23 said they explicitly allowed it. The rest said they didn’t address it either way. The survey was published in May. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced the results on Tuesday.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 21:36:18 +0000
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