TopTen_Web

What was most popular among Jury Expert readers in 2012? Take a look. One of the beauties of publishing on the web is that readers can find articles that may not have just been published and enjoy them (and share them) in perpetuity. The most accessed articles in the entire on-line repository of Jury Expert articles during the calendar year 2012 are listed below in order of their popularity. Our 2012 articles are not far behind our Top 10 list (we thought about doing a Top 20 list!) but they just haven’t had time to build an audience yet. So take a look. While you might choose a different Top Ten—this one is composed by visitors to the Jury Expert website. It’s what your friends, colleagues and opponents are reading.

​1) Ethical Issues in Racial Profiling by Annabelle Lever This article by a British ethicist examines the differences in the British and American practices related to racial profiling and poses provocative questions about practices related to jury selection and voir dire in this country. First published in 2009, this article has consistently been a popular one with our readers.

​2) Online and Wired for Justice: Why Jurors Turn to the Internet (the “Google mistrial”) by Doug Keene and Rita Handrich The first article we published in The Jury Expert that comprehensively examined the issue of jurors and the internet. Also written in 2009, this article has been a consistent favorite among our readers.

3) Eyeglasses and Mock Juror Decisions by Mike Brown Popularly known as the “nerd defense”, this 2011 article explains the original research that found only a small effect of putting glasses on your criminal defendant. The popular media picked up this small finding and ran with it. Here’s the real story of what the researcher actually found.

4) Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI) vs. Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI): An Annotated Bibliography by Jennifer Kutys and Jennifer Esterman Another 2009 article by two doctoral students at Wright State that has been consistently popular with TJE readers. This is a very specialized area of practice but that means solid information on the issues are very hard to find.

​5) Will It Hurt Me In Court? Weapons Issues and the Fears of the Legally Armed Citizen by Glenn Meyer We thought this would be another niche article as well that would only be of interest to a small number of readers. This one has staying power though and is often passed around on gun-interest/use forums. While there has not been an uptick in traffic to this article since the debate over gun control has peaked—traffic has been steady throughout the year.

​6) Police Deception during Interrogation and Its Surprising Influence on Jurors’ Perceptions of Confession Evidence by Krista Forrest and William Woody Published in 2010, this article focuses on the impact of police deception during interrogation on jurors thoughts about accepting or rejecting confession evidence. Not surprisingly, this one picked up traffic toward the end of 2012 as the issue of false confession hit the media and theaters.

7) Generation X members are “active, balanced and happy”. Seriously? by Doug Keene and Rita Handrich Published in 2011, this article has been consistently popular throughout the year. And we thought people were mainly interested in the Millennial Generation! Apparently not. This one is a Myth Buster on the grunge generation that grew up to live (seemingly) happier lives than their parents.

8) A Necessary Evil: Edward Tufte and Making the Best of PowerPoint by Jason Barnes and Brian Patterson Also published in 2011, this article has been consistently popular throughout the year. This user-friendly piece shows you how to use PowerPoint effectively and is written by visual evidence specialists.

9) Atticus Finch Would Not Approve: Why a Courtroom Full of Reptiles Is a Bad Idea by Stephanie West Allen, Jeffrey Schwartz and Diane Wyzga Published in 2010, this article picked up steam at the end of the year to make it to our Top Ten list. A rejoinder to the popular Reptile Technique with responses from trial lawyers who are opposed to and/or support the reptile strategy in the courtroom.

10) Powerpoint® Presentation Compatibility: Be Prepared for Surprises by Robert Featherly, Adam Wirtzfeld, and Adam Bloomberg Published in 2011, this one has also been consistently popular. We are all interested in help with our PowerPoint presentations and many of us have opened a slide presentation that is “just all wrong” when we arrive to share our knowledge. Written by visual evidence specialists to help you avoid that horrifying experience.

Graphic design by Brian Patterson of Barnes & Roberts.