Jurors Today: Texts and "Tweets?"

For centuries, lawyers and law students have taken for granted that, in the interests of justice, those serving on juries cannot obtain outside information about the case when they are outside the courtroom. But in the world of Web 2.0, it's not that simple anymore. While the new September Library display highlights the common law jury tradition in the U.S. and throughout the world, there are new challenges facing today's lawyers and judges "where the information superhighway intersects with the halls of justice." Mistrials have been declared and new laws to control juror communications and "research"are being passed. Are they the answer? You can read an excellent summary of the problem and some of the solutions being tried in "Texts and 'Tweets' by Jurors, Lawyers, Pose Courtroom Conundrums", from the August issue of Trial, a publication of the American Association of Justice (formerly, ATLA, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America).



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat