The herald., 1894-10-01
ONE OF THE MODERN MYSTERIES
The Average Jurors Estimate
of Newspaper Accuracy.
The Great Majority Not Influenced
by Newspaper Accounts.
A Pleasant Fiction That Is winkcd at
by Courts-what May BE Observed
Any Day in Any OF the
Courts.

such fruitful subject Of comment that
nearly everyone is familiar with the in
tricacies of the system, and in this day
you will find very few persona who
would risk much on what the verdict
will be.
To one who is much around courts and
observes the empaneling OF juries, the
questions asked jurors and their re-
plies. the greatest popularity, aside
from the uncertainty OF the result of
their deliberations, is the manner in
which they answer questions relative to
newspapers.
1t is pretty hard to put IL men in the
jury box nowadays, some Of whom
have not read the newspapers. This is
more particularly the case in the higher
courts. where more care is exercised in
the selection of the jury lists.
One would think that people who read
newspapers are more or less Influenced
by what they read, or at least that some
impression would pc left en- their minds.
Bat in the jury box, from come occult
iRfuencSwhieh it is somewhat difficult
to characterize. the ordinary views of
men seem to undergo q change.
Nine men out of every ten, when ex-
amined by the attorneys in q case, if
they have read about it in the papers,
have formed no opinion about it, and
what they have read has left no impress
sion on their minds.
Thin would not be 80 remarkable If it
happened in only one or two instances,
but it is almost invariably the manner
In which the questions are answered.
There Is smaller percentage OF jurors,
but still majority, who when asked
about their newspaper reading say they
do not believe what they read; that
they consider in reading Newspaper
articles that they are inaccurate and do
not state the facte correctly.
This is the way these men answer the
questions in che jury box, but if you
find them in their Offices, their stores or
their homes they do not make such
statements.
The news of the day. local and gen.
eral. as chronicled in the daily papers ia
discussed by them upon the basis OF a
belief in the record as printed. There
is, OF course. an element of doubt in
many cases that arise ss to whether q
person charged with crime ia guilty or
innocent, but out of the jury box the
samo nine-tenthe Of the men referred to
accept the carefully verified accounts of
the legitimate daily papers as correct
and form decided opinions upon them.
1t would not be SO noticeable in
juror to disolaim influence by q news
paper account in case where there was
naturally doubt as to certain person
vtn rfa h..s
when it Gomez to clear case, in the
great majority Of cases the Juror ssys he
does not believe what he read, or was
perfect blank as far as bias for or against
defendant is concerned.
Such Jurors know when they make
statement like this that they are not
telling the trnth. But it has come to
be the usual answer and they don's like
to create precedent. 1t is only occa.
sionally that a juror emancipates him
self and acknowledges that he has based
an opinion from Newspaper accounts.
Nevertheless he knows, the court knows,
the attorneys know and the spectators
know that he is concealing the truth,
when he says he has not.
One veri6cation of this is the man
ner in which attorneys treat answers to
these questions by the jurors. They
keep or excuse q juror, not by his re-
plies, but by what they really know of
the juror, his antecedents, business and
characteristics as displayed in his
answers.
II lawyers would tell the truth, aleo,
about this subject, they would tell you
that 1t 10 absurd for a man to sit in the
jury box aud leave behind him the
social instincts and influences that eur.
round him in his private lie.
II read something about the case in
the papers, that's all know about it,
and don't believe what | read" is the
expression that one usually hears in the
court room from the jury box.
You say you read about the case ?"
asks the attorney.
"Yes, sir" is the reply.
From what you read, have you
formed or expressed an opinion as to
the guilt or innocence of the de-
fendant?"
mo. SIR" ia the prompt reply, when
the case may be 80 plain that q 4-year-
old boy would have formed an opinion.
There is tscit understanding all
around that the juror has juggled with
his verscity, but like 80 many things
that have become the custom, the polite
fiction is kept up aud the jury system
continues to perform itB imperfect work.
Sometimes Judge is found who sum-
marily pounces upon glsring intractiens
OF the laws of probe bilty in such In
stsnces, but these cases are very few and
far between.
There are no doubt many inaccurate
accounts of events or crimes in news
papers, but no one knows go we'll as the
modern newspaper reader that extreme
caro- is taken by reputable journals to be
correct in statements OF fact, and it re-
mains one OF the mysteries how men get
in the jury box and affect to be totally
different people from what they are be-
fore and after.
a na.d