Will Google, Facebook, and Twitter Kill The Justice System?
Will Google, Facebook, and Twitter Kill The Justice System?
Posted 03/28/2009 at 7:36pm
| by Justin Kerr
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It turns out Twitter can be used for more than just reading bad haikus, it can also be used to derail 8 weeks of legal proceedings, and get a case thrown in to mistrial. Last week, a Florida juror in a high profile drug trial officially went on record and admitted to the judge that he’d researched part of the case over the Internet. Normally a single biased juror isn’t a big deal; you simply eject the person in question and continue. But when the judge dug a bit further, he was shocked to find that eight other jurors had all committed the same offence. As a result a “Google” mistrial was called, and the justice system is starting to worry about the long term trends this case demonstrated.
This isn’t the first time the internet and social media has been accused of interfering with justice either. A few weeks back an Arkansas court was asked to overturn a $12.6 million dollar judgment by claiming that a juror was releasing details of the case on Twitter. Tweets such as “a big announcement is coming Monday” might seem harmless, but to the courts, they represent a grave threat to the justice system that is nearly impossible to solve. Currently jurors are warned in advance not seek information outside the courtroom, but with the answer to almost every question at our finger tips these days, the temptation to cheat seems to be getting to the best of us.
With access to the internet via mobile devices getting easier every day, do you think this is a problem the courts will ever solve? Or will we have to lock up all the twitterholics?
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tyl1537
November 14, 2010 at 9:56pm
It’s funny how we can develop a list of assumptions about almost every group. I’ve found that there are people of all kinds in all links of london . There are people who do great things and believe in altruism and those who devote their lives to being miserable
neo1piv14
March 30, 2009 at 5:09am
So just to make sure we're on the same page, we've all been told from a young age to question what we're told, to go out and learn on our own, to research facts before we form an opinion...until it really matters. If knowing the facts about a case biases the jurors, then maybe one side was screwed from the beginning. Lawyers should know what kind of information is available on the internet, in the newspaper, and on TV, and should be prepared to answer for that. If I ever went to trial, I'd want to have the most informed jurors possible deciding what was going to happen to me. Personally, I don't think that's the same thing as having jurors only know what's spoonfed to them in a court room.
timmyw
March 31, 2009 at 9:12pm
The problem is two-fold. We all know that the Internet is full of "facts" that have absolutely no regard for the truth. Second, the limitation is so that only evidence that has been legally obtained is admissable.
How often do we a trial judged in the media long before it sees the inside of a courtroom. You want your jurors getting their "facts" from these sources.
Yes, lawyers should know what information is available and if they care about their client they will make sure that information gets to the juror the way it is supposed to--in a courtroom where cross examination and rebuttal are handled fairly.
For the record, I am not a lawyer. In fact, I believe this country has about fifty times too many lawyers. But I for one wouldn't want some Yahoo! using The Google to find answers (i.e. what some sensationalist media outlet, or prejudiced blogger wrote).
I would be massive ticked if some twit twittered away my weeks of jury service. I just spent three days on a jury and I know our judge continually admonished the jurors what not to do. I mean he repeated anytime we left the courtroom.
ubuwalker31
March 29, 2009 at 11:26am
All that judges have to do is make it clear to jurors not to read the newspaper or research the internet at home. If the stakes are so high for a particular case, the jurors could be sequestored at a hotel without a tv/radio/cell phone/internet access. I don't see this as such a big deal. Trials were fine when jurors watched the TV news to see the case on TV...is the internet so different? Not really.
Sonickid101
March 29, 2009 at 8:23am
So your pretty much selectively locking up Jurors for indefinate ammounts of time albeit in a hotel room not a cell. The only difference between a Juror and an inmate then is one is being considered doing a public service during thier time there. So many things in our government are outdates and need to be updated theres no way the founding fathers could have know about the internet, twitter, cell phones, or google.
KaylaKaze
March 29, 2009 at 8:00am
Maybe our "justice" system should stop living in the 18th century and evolve. It doesn't work anyway.
ApoX-911
March 29, 2009 at 4:10am
sounds like the courts may have to go further when someone is selected for grand jury. I know most times, the jury is put up in hotels with no more interaction that is needed with the outside world. It may piss a few people off, but I dont see it as too far a stretch to confiscate and hold cellphones and put up jurors in non internet connected locations.
All important messages to a juror can be sent through a court secretary.
It may seem a bit harsh, but dont yell at the legal system for this, yell at the idiots that are mentioned above.
ferds7
March 28, 2009 at 9:26pm
Sounds like the lawyers need to do a better job of filtering out the less than intelligent people.
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