New Archive

  • One of the biggest challenges lawyers face is witness examination. You know your job, you have done the preparation and yet, somehow, at some point, your witness seems to transform right in front of your eyes. You know the story. Witness “X” has presented in your office as thoughtful, credible, […]

    Understanding the Traumatized Witness

    by Lorie Hood, M.S. One of the biggest challenges lawyers face is witness examination. You know your job, you have done the preparation and yet, somehow, at some point, your witness seems to transform right in front of your eyes. You know the story. Witness “X” has presented in your office as thoughtful, credible, […]

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  • The problem of jurors researching on the internet used to be referred to as the "Google Mistrial" but now has become ubiquitous. This article describes the development of the Juror Internet Research Scale (JIRS) which is used to identify those jurors who will insist on doing research on their own despite judicial instructions to the contrary. The complete measure is presented here with scoring instructions.

    The Juror Internet Research Scale (JIRS): Identifying the Jurors Who Won’t Stay Offline

    by Alexis Knutson, M.A. and Edie Greene, Ph.D. and Robert Durham, Ph.D. The problem of jurors researching on the internet used to be referred to as the "Google Mistrial" but now has become ubiquitous. This article describes the development of the Juror Internet Research Scale (JIRS) which is used to identify those jurors who will insist on doing research on their own despite judicial instructions to the contrary. The complete measure is presented here with scoring instructions.

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