Briefly explain the jury selection process. Which Amendment includes the right to an impartial jury?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The jury selection process begins with the selection of a jury pool, a process known as venire. The
jury pool is typically generated from a list of registered voters and driver’s license records. Some states
even use telephone directories or lists of utility customers. All states have minimal qualifications such as
being at least 19 years old, a U.S. citizen, and a resident of the jurisdiction where the case will be heard.
Once the jury pool is formed, people are selected from the list for jury service. Individuals selected from
the jury pool for a particular case are usually called the jury panel. Members of the jury panel are called
into court and, in a process known as voir dire (which is French for “to see to speak”), they are asked a
series of questions by the judge and/or the lawyers. They are asked about their background, their
familiarity with the case, whether they are friends or acquaintances of any of the parties to the case, and
their attitudes about certain issues that may arise during the trial. These questions are, at least in theory,
designed to determine whether the potential jurors are unbiased and can decide the case fairly and
impartially. Potential jurors can be excused—or challenged—by either the prosecutor or the defense
attorneys. Both sides have an unlimited number of challenges for cause; these challenges, which require
the judge’s approval, are used to excuse jurors who cannot be fair and impartial. In addition, each side
has a limited number of peremptory challenges, which can be used to excuse potential jurors without
giving any reason at all. The peremptory challenge has been criticized on a number of grounds, the most
important of which concerns allegations that prosecutors use them to remove African Americans and
Hispanics from juries trying racial minorities. The Amendment that includes the right to an impartial jury is
the Sixth Amendment.