?Describe the two types of challenges that the attorney for either side might exercise during voir dire(jury selection) to exclude a particular person from the jury.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The two types of challenges available to both sides in a lawsuit are challenges for cause and peremptory challenges.An attorney can exercise a challenge for cause if the prospective juror is biased against the client or case for some reason. Each side's attorney can exercise an unlimited number of challenges for cause. Because most people are not forthcoming about their biases, the attorney must be able to prove sufficiently to the court that the person cannot be an objective juror in the case. Often, the judge will ask the challenged juror follow-up questions and then determine that the juror can be objective after all.Both attorneys may exercise a limited number of peremptory challenges without giving any reason to the court as to why they object to a particular juror. In most cases, peremptory challenges are the only challenges exercised (because there is no proof that any juror is biased). A juror may thus be excused from serving on the jury for any reason, including his or her facial expressions or nonverbal behavior during the questioning. Peremptory challenges based on racial criteria or gender, however, are illegal. Because the number of peremptory challenges is limited (a court may allow only three, for example), ?attorneys must exercise peremptory challenges carefully. Experienced litigators try to conserve their peremptory challenges so that they can eliminate the prospective jurors who appear the most hostile.