University Daily Kansan, April 28, 1983
Page 7
Prof says social scientists aid jury picks
By DIANE LUBER Staff Reporter
Social scientists can help eliminate bias in the jury selection process, a KU psychology professor said yesterday. Some, however, can also contribute to it.
Lawrence Wrightsman, professor of psychology, said social scientists could bring scientific method and a different perspective to the jury selection process. But the problem, he said, was that most social scientists will work only for the side they agree with.
And because many social scientists are liberals, he said, they may not be willing to work for other than liberal causes.
ABOUT 20 PEOPLE MADE their way through a noon downpour to hear Wrightman a noon downpour about "Psychology and Law in Conflict," at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center at the second-to-last University Forum of the spring semester.
He said that defending and prosecuting attorneys were allowed to question prospective jurors, either directly or through the judge, to uncover any bias. They are also each allowed to remove a specified number
of people from the jury without giving any cause or reason.
Now social scientists have stepped into the process as consultants to attorneys, Wrightsman said.
One of the first cases in which social scientists assisted the defending attorney in the selection of the jury was the Harrisburg Seven case, he said. In that case, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Calif., who were Californians, people were charged with several crimes, including conspiring to kidnap Kissinger.
WRIGHTSMAN SAID THAT Robert Christie, a social scientist who has worked as a jury selection consultant, said that government officials selected Harrisburg as the site for the trial because of its high level of evidence conviction there. Also, J. Edgar Hoover announced before the trial began that the defendants were guilty.
The trial resulted in a hung jury
But Wrightsman was critical of Christie. He said that Christie, in his consulting work, waffled on whether he worked to pick a fair jury or one that was sympathetic to the side he was working on.
WRIGHTSMAN TOLD THE AUDIENCE about one case in which the defending attorney's attempt to select a
sympathetic jury failed. But that failure was fortunate for the defendants, because one of the jurors who had been judged to be unsympathetic to the defense persuaded the others to vote for a not guilty verdict.
The defenders, John Mitchell and Maurice Stans, were accused and found not guilty in 1976 of accepting a bribe from Robert Vesco for Richard Nixon's presidential campaign.
A public relations firm hired to assist in jury selection described the least desirable jury member as a liberal, Jewish Democrat who read the New York Times or the Washington Post, who watched Walter Cronkite and who was well informed about Watergate.
THE RESULTING JURY DID not reflect proportionately the characteristics of the 196-member group from which it was selected. Although 45 percent of the original group had some college education, only one member of the jury had attended college.
Although clerical and white color workers made up only 32 percent of the original group, they made up 78 percent of the jury. And of the 32 percent that was well informed about Watergate in the original group, only one person was chosen to be on the jury.
But that carefully selected jury
initially voted 8-4 to convict Mitchell and Stans.
It was Andrew Chao, a bank vice president who read the New York Times and who was well informed about Watergate and who was chosen to be the head of the company who persuaded the other jury members to bring in a verdict of not guilty.
WRIGHTSMAN WAS CRITICAL OF two reforms of the American jury system brought about by two recent Supreme Court cases.
The Supreme Court has ruled that juries can have as few as six members and that juries no longer must reach unanimous agreement on verdicts.
Large juries deliberate longer, communicate more, have better recall of testimony and have better community representation than small juries do, he said.
Juries that must reach unanimous agreement on the verdict also deliver longer and end up in hung juries more frequently than do juries that determine the verdict by a majority vote, he said.
Wrightman assisted in trial advocacy courses at the KU School of Law when he served as an Intra-University Visiting Professor during the 1981-82 academic year.
Aviation board seeks temporary operator
The Lawrence Aviation Advisory Board wants to get a temporary operator for the Lawrence airport
The current fixed-base operator, Lawrence Aviation, is closing its operation at the end of April. The board decided yesterday afternoon, in a continuation of last week's meeting, to recommend that the Lawrence City Commission pick a temporary airport operator.
Scott Killough, board chairman,
said that the board needed time to
produce well-thought-out specifications for a new long-term lease,
and that using an interoperator would provide that time.
Members of the advisory board said that eight groups had expressed an interest in operating the airport and training pilots, which would last from 90 to 180 days.
"To jump into a new long-term lease now would not be to the advantage of the city, and probably the advantage of the operator." Killough said.
THE BOARD IS SETTING UP guidelines for minimum service that the operator would have to provide, and has already required that the operator must either be in business
or have been in business recently. People who have never operated an airport would still be eligible for the long-term lease, however.
If the City Commission approves the short-term plan, the board will advertise for and interview prospective operators, and then will recommend one to the commission for approval.
Board members said they hoped to have a temporary operator by mid-May or early June.
Capital Air Lines of Manhattan is providing occasional commuter service at the airport, but is not operating on a regular schedule. The board said that there was no reason the operator had to run a commuter service, and that it was waiting for a commuter to contact it with a proposal for starting regular service.
Lawrence Aviation will stop all operations May 1, and will hold a public auction at the airport May 14 to sell its property.
Board members also indicated that no commuter line would be likely to come to Lawrence on a train. A consultant an interim operator is selected.
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Schlitz , KLZR , Delta Tau Delta & Alpha Delta Pi
proudly present
YAHOO'83
FRIDAY, APRIL 29,1983 LAST DAY OF CLASSES
At the Delta Tau Delta House 3:00 p.m.-Midnight
100 KEGS OF BEER
Tickets: $3.00 in Advance.
- Miss Yahoo Contest
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$4.00 at the Door.
with
Celebrate the End of School!
- Drinking Events
- Dunk Tank
The Delta's and the ADPI's would like to thank the following contributors:
- 2 Bands
- Whistle Pics
- Westlakes Hardware
- Hartwood Wholesale Meats
* Lady Baltimore
- Lady Baltimore
- The Fitness Center
- Chevy %
* Emporia Wholesale Coffee Co.
- Alexander's Flowers
- The Flower Shoppe
- The Fitness Center
- Alexander's Flowers
- Lawrence Floral
Squares Flower Shop
- Southern Hills Floral & Gift
- Westridge Floral
- University Floral
- Morris Sports
- Zeinfeld's
- The Crewel Cupboard
- T.G. & Y
- Stadium Barber Shop
- Raasch Saddle & Bridle Shop
* The Crawl Cupboard
- Zeigfeld's
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- Downtown TV
- Fun and Games
- Carnegiea
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- Coast To Coast Hardware
- Douglas County Abstra
- Better Days
- Dougal Gould McNamara
• Douglas County Abstract & Title Co
- Briman's Jewelers
- Gerling's Natural Way
- Phoenix Art & Glass
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Proceeds Go to the Ross Copeland Memorial Fund.
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