Description

The procedures described in §§ 32.3-32.3.4 supra carried the process of selecting a trial jury up to the point at which a panel of jurors is ushered into the courtroom on the day of trial. The final step in the process, by which the actual trial jurors (and alternates) are selected from the panel, is known as the voir dire examination. It is the stage at which a great number of criminal cases are won or lost. For a discussion of voir dire practices that are useful in selecting jurors who are most likely to give defendants a fair trial, see Shari Seidman Diamond & Valerie P. Hans, Fair Juries, 2023 U. ILL. L. REV. 879, 881-897, 913-35; Barbara O’Brien & Catherine M. Grosso, Judges, Lawyers, and Willing Jurors: A Tale of Two Jury Selections, 98 CHICAGO-KENT L. REV. 107 (2023). Prior to the voir dire, counsel has had no real hand in the jury selection process, apart from the possibility of attacking it here or there for procedural defects. At the voir dire, counsel will have the opportunity to play a large part in determining which particular jurors are going to sit on the trial of the case. S/he will also have his or her first chance to talk to those jurors – directly or indirectly – and to say some things to them that will strongly affect their attitudes toward counsel, the defendant, and the case.

First Page

1407

Source Publication

Trial Manual 11 for the Defense of Criminal Cases

Source Editors/Authors

Anthony G. Amsterdam, Randy A. Hertz

Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Chapter

Edition

11

Rights & Restrictions

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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