Demographics, personal background and experiences, and attitudes are things attorneys can control. They can select jurors who fit their profiling needs and disregard those who don’t. But there may be other factors that are not easily evaluated and beyond their control, and these can have just as much of an impact on the outcome of a case.
Take, for example, the personality of the juror. Psychologists have only recently begun exploring the role of juror personality traits, and how certain traits can lead to bias in making guilt and punishment decisions. Then there are the jurors’ emotions and moods to consider. These can affect their judgments because their moods will dictate the evidence they will pay attention to. Then there is the extent to which a juror takes a dispositional attribution approach. Some people belief they are extremely good at sizing up people just by looking at them — they don’t need any more information than what’s right in front of them. That kind of person may be particularly prone to disregard evidence and rely on outward appearances to come to a verdict.
As lawyers will always tell you, stay out of the courtroom if you can help it, because you never know what a jury will decide. Considering that jurors might draw conclusions based on who you are rather than what you might have done, that’s excellent advice.
