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Federal Judges Wary of Facebook, Twitter Impact On Juries

Posted by samzenpus on from the no-farmville-in-the-jury-box dept.

coondoggie writes "The impact of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and others on federal juries is a concern that judges are frequently taking steps to curb. According to a study 94% of the 508 federal judges who responded said they have specifically barred jurors from any case-connected use of social media."

10 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. I for one think its about damn time... by ganjadude · · Score: 4, Funny

    to start crowdsourcing juries, I mean why bother having 12 people show up ina room when you got half the country saying hes guilty before the trial starts on facebook!

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    1. Re:I for one think its about damn time... by mr1911 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not sure if sentence!

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    2. Re:I for one think its about damn time... by FrYGuY101 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes! In fact, let's give Nancy Grace sovereign power over each human to decide if they should live or die right now!

      I think you have that backwards... we should give every human sovereign power to decide if Nancy Grace should live or die right now...

      --
      "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."

      - Seneca
  2. Cluelessness is limitless. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    IMO rules about this sort of thing fall into the category of "people really shouldn't need to be told".

    When you participate on a jury, you are prohibited from communicating anything related to the case with anybody outside of the jury deliberation chambers. End of story. Whether you communicate the information face-to-face, via e-mail, or through Facebook or Twitter really shouldn't matter.

    But of course there are idiots throughout society, so multiple, redundant rules need to be enacted to try and prevent problems.

  3. Self-restraint and following the rules by CorporalKlinger · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Being a juror stinks - I think most everyone agrees on that. But the rationale behind restrictions like this makes sense: communication about the case outside the courtroom may result in a juror's opinion being changed by friends, family, Facebook contacts, etc.

    It's hard for some people to slow down and refrain from tweeting of Facebook posting every last thing they do every day... but I'm sure we'd all appreciate a fair trial without undue influence from bystanders who don't know all of the facts if we ever find ourselves seated at the defendant's table one day...

    This is one time when following the rules can have enormous consequences. Far too many people see jury duty as a joke, or otherwise don't follow the rules in other areas of their life (parking in handicapped spots to run into the store for "just a minute," taking things from work because "nobody will miss it") and this transfers to abiding by the rules set forth by the judge at trial. It's a joke for some people - and that's just disrespectful.

    1. Re:Self-restraint and following the rules by hedwards · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're telling me. I was on a jury once for a month. The court staff and judge were all super nice as long as we followed the rules and held up our end, but it's tiring and time consuming under the best of situations. You spend 4 days a week going back and forth between trial and hanging out in a room with a group of people you have only one thing in common with. And that one thing you have in common you're not allowed to talk about until deliberations.

      It wasn't really that miserable, but I can definitely understand why people would be on FB there if they're on FB normally.

      The handicap spots I kind of understand, I don't park in those ever, but I can understand people being frustrated having to park a block away when there's not just one or two handicap spots going unused.

    2. Re:Self-restraint and following the rules by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The handicap spots I kind of understand, I don't park in those ever, but I can understand people being frustrated having to park a block away when there's not just one or two handicap spots going unused.

      Try getting a quadraplegic in an electric wheel chair out of a van in the winter when some asshole decided it would be more convenient if he took the handicap space.

      I have done this, and it's hugely difficult. An electric wheel chair weighs something like 250-300 pounds, so getting one unstuck is a hell of a job.

      So, in my experience, parking in the disabled spot when you're not supposed to is being a douche. Right up there with the people who park in the no parking zone in front of stores so they can wait for their spouse to run in quickly ... nobody else cares, and you're blocking traffic.

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    3. Re:Self-restraint and following the rules by s.petry · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I showed up for Jury duty in Michigan as I am required every day at 9AM for a week. Every day the lawyers would visually inspect us and relieve the ones they did not want. Everyone that brought a book was dismissed. Those that were smart enough to figure out that "reading" will get you dismissed started bringing in books about mid week. It was really the same people over and over again on every jury, those not bright enough to correlate some very basic information.

      Sadly, in our legal methods of jury stacking, that's exactly what each side wants.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  4. Already happned in England by augustw · · Score: 4, Informative

    In England, a juror was jailed last year for communicating with an acquitted defendant on Facebook: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/16/facebook-juror-jailed-for-eight-months

    And another was jailed last week for researching the defendant on the internet generally: http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jan/23/juror-contempt-court-online-research

  5. Re:Was in jury duty. by desdinova+216 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know, at times it borders on anti-social