Jury selection in the United States

Jury selection in the United States is the choosing of members of grand juries and petit juries for the purpose of conducting trial by jury in the United States.

During voir dire, potential jurors are questioned by attorneys and/or the judge. It has been argued that voir dire is often ineffective at detecting juror bias. Extended voir dire in major controlled substance trials may increase accuracy in predicting individual verdicts from 50% to 78%.

In the federal system, jury selection is governed by the Jury Selection and Service Act and by the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in criminal cases, and by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in civil cases. In capital cases, each side gets 20 peremptory strikes. In other felony cases, the defendant gets 10 peremptory strikes and the government gets 6. In misdemeanor cases, each side has 3 peremptory strikes.

Each U.S. state has its own system, which is subject to the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

Federal criminal petit juries are required to be composed of residents of the state and federal judicial district wherein the crime was committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law.

Research supports the hypothesis that the juror selection process effectively discriminates against the poor, racial minorities, women, and persons with low and high educational attainment. Claims that errors were made during jury selection are among the most common of all grounds for criminal appeals. The argument has been made that selection of juries for courts-martial is subject to too much control by commanders, who can pick jurors who will be most likely to convict and hand down heavy penalties.

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