August 20, 2019 1:00pm - August 20, 2019 2:00pm
Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, Level 20, 111 Elizabeth Street, Sydney
Topic: Jury selection reform in the age of trial by media
In the second decade of the Digital Age are we asking too much of juries and risking fair trials in
the process? With the plethora of devices and search platforms available to us all is it still reasonable
to expect jurors – no matter how well directed – to not search the history of a defendant or the
circumstances of the case on which they are empanelled? Are we naive to think that it doesn’t
happen? And in a world where True Crime Podcasts can canvas so much material – prejudicial and
otherwise – before a suspect is charged or even before trial has commenced, can we reasonably
expect ordinary men and women to be able to set aside all they may have heard or seen about a
case in order to pass objective judgement beyond reasonable doubt? Greg Barns examines the
issues.
Click on the link below to read the paper presented by Greg Barns:
Juries and Social Media: Problems Arising from Jurors’ Social Media Use