Citation

Middendorf K, Luginbuhl J. Crim. Justice Behav. 1995; 22(2): 129-151.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0093854895022002003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The impact of different styles of voir dire was explored. Subjects listened to a directive voir dire, a nondirective voir dire, a judge alone, or nothing. A subset of each of those groups then responded to a voir dire conducted in either a directive or a nondirective fashion. Listening to a voir dire tended to educate subjects about the law more than hearing only the judge explain the law. In the second part of the experiment, those who underwent a nondirective voir dire were rated as more self-disclosing and were more willing to admit their inability to abide by legal due process guarantees. It was concluded that a nondirective style of voir dire is more effective at uncovering grounds for cause challenges than is a directive style of voir dire.

Language: en