Facebooking the Jury

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights the trend of using social media websites such as facebook to conduct research on potential jurors. According to the article, “[s]ocial-networking sites often contain candid, personal information generated directly by the user.” This research is often helpful during voir dire because attorneys are often able to establish a person’s biases on particular issues.

However, as pointed out in the article, “facebooking the jury” will not affect the importance of asking the right questions during voir dire. One Texas DA “equipped his prosecutors with iPads to scan the [w]eb during jury selection.” However, the ADAs weren’t able to find much information because many of the potential jurors had enabled privacy settings to restrict their facebook pages from public view.

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social media websites have been rapidly working their way into the legal system. Postings are frequently being used as evidence in various types of cases and now attorneys are using these websites during jury selection. Even if your privacy settings are restricted, the general (public) information you display on the web may come into play. The article ends with a statement from an Oregon District Attorney, who says that “even small details, like a person's favorite show, could say something about them.”