DOAR conducted a study to determine how prevalent juror misconduct actually is: Would jurors admit to researching or posting online during a trial?

In conjunction with Citizens Bank and Bernero & Press, DOAR is pleased to host a breakfast to consider the issues of diversity and inclusion in law and legal services. In facilitating a gathering of senior legal leadership across the full spectrum of sector participants, we seek to foster and promote a sharing of practical thought leadership and helpful networking.

Attendees will include senior management of law firms and corporations, and other industry participants – coming together in a format designed to encourage idea generation and problem-solving through relaxed dialogue...

Making A Murderer May Make Better Defense Jurors

Over the past several years, there has been increased media coverage of allegations that police and/or prosecutors (allegedly) unfairly targeted suspects or defendants.  There has been national attention to cases in which police officers kill suspects (e.g., Michael Brown in Ferguson; Freddie Gray in Baltimore) and other cases in which journalists and filmmakers turn a specific case into a documentary.  Last year it was the popular podcast Serial, wherein This American Life’s Sarah Koenig investigated the suspicious circumstances surrounding...

Do Instructions Actually Help Jurors Evaluate Eyewitness Testimony?

Mistaken eyewitness identifications are a leading cause of wrongful convictions.  Even with procedural safeguards in place (e.g., cross-examination and jury instructions), jurors still have difficulty evaluating the reliability of eyewitness identifications.  In 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court rendered a landmark decision in NJ v. Henderson in which the Court determined that, if the defendant can show evidence of suggestibility, the judge should instruct the jury on the potential impact of certain variables known to affect the accuracy of eyewitness identification....