The voir dire process is important within our judicial system as it promotes an ideology that both the American people and government hope to sustain—that being the concept of a fair, unbiased system in which all citizens are treated according to precedent and laws as opposed to biases, whether illicit or not. As noticed within the simulation, many jurors had biases that would have significantly impacted the trial. My own assigned juror had known the defendant and had previous tensions with them. While this bias may not always appear in court, my juror had a predetermined idea to use this time on the jury to “get back” at the defendant rather than viewing the case with an unbiased eye. Of course, this would have ended badly for the defendant, …show more content…
However, my juror also was a staunch Democrat and a mathematics teacher: two factors that may have played a part in their decision on the case. Due to my juror’s political affiliation, they would have likely viewed social issues, including that of alcohol and substance use, with a more left-leaning ideology. Furthermore, while being a mathematics teacher does not automatically denounce further knowledge of the American legal system, one could assume that my juror would have only had an average or perhaps below-average grasp of it and, thus, may not understand a case that was seemingly as complex as this as well as someone formally trained (i.e., an attorney or a Political Science professor). My juror, overall, was much more attractive towards the prosecution as my biases made them naturally sway to their favor. However, both the aforementioned qualities can be attractive and unattractive in cases aside from the DWI case as my juror could be easily swayed by a persuasive figure—that being either the attorneys, the defendant, or the prosecutor themselves—and also had a previously existing notion of how the legal system should view certain …show more content…
Many of them focused on characteristics that I did not believe would be beneficial to either side; I was asked by the defense if I had kids, knew anyone in law, was married, or knew anyone in the case. Meanwhile I was asked very similar questions from the prosecution, however, they focused more so on my previous criminal record and if I had been a victim of a crime, along with what my occupation was. Despite not knowing the case facts, I feel that one would not get an accurate portrayal of a juror from these questions alone and, thus, would only increase the difficulty in creating a beneficial