How Will COVID-19 Affect Future Jury Trials?

When courts begin to ramp-up operations and start to impanel juries again for the thousands of backlogged civil and criminal trials, the composition of the jury pool may look different, suggests Dispute Dynamics.

Dan Gallipeau and Jill Huntley Taylor at Dispute Dynamics conducted a 300-participant nationwide study last week to determine what, if any, effect COVID-19 might have on the composition of jury pools. Will courts treat fear of the coronavirus as a hardship and excuse jurors? If so, who is most likely to claim the hardship?

The study found notable differences among individuals who stated that they still would serve on a jury during the pandemic, finding that "those who are willing and able to appear for jury duty tend to hold more pro-defense, pro-corporate attitudes than those afraid to appear [for] jury duty due to coronavirus."