# Influencing the jury during selection/questioning, is this ethical?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/influencing-the-jury-during-selection-questioning-is-this-ethical/698505>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 14, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/influencing-the-jury-during-selection-questioning-is-this-ethical/698505 "2014-09-14T22:26:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/influencing-the-jury-during-selection-questioning-is-this-ethical/698505/1 "2014-09-14T22:26:35Z")

</div>

Is it ethical (professionally) for lawyers to attempt to influence potential jury members during jury questioning?

I’ve seen situations where a lawyers questions to potential jurors sounded more like a speech than a question. I’m not talking about long-winded description of a situation or idea, rather things like “the law says …” and “we all know …”. Even the questions seemed slanted, like 'how would you act/feel in (defendant)'s situation?".

This occurs in the courtroom, in front of a judge, so I assume it’s legal. The judge sustain some objections about improper phrasing, so it didn’t seem to bother them.

Is this sort of thing actually acceptable in most courts? Or did they simply not bother about it for some other reason (too minor to bother with, not enough to win the case, etc.) It was for a criminal trial, if that makes a difference.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/influencing-the-jury-during-selection-questioning-is-this-ethical/698505/2 "2014-09-15T00:49:43Z")

</div>

A lawyer is trying to influence the jury every single time he speaks in front of them. There are rules about how that should be done, and varying degrees of penalties for breaking same.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/influencing-the-jury-during-selection-questioning-is-this-ethical/698505/3 "2014-09-15T16:22:57Z")

</div>

I suspect that they are also looking for a reaction (does the potential juror agree/disagree).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/influencing-the-jury-during-selection-questioning-is-this-ethical/698505/4 "2014-09-15T19:55:15Z")

</div>

Thanks Oakminster. That puts in a completely different light. I’d assumed they would try to be neutral in their questioning before the trial.

@ethelbart that could be it, too. Though they did ask several agree/disagree questions outright, and invite discussion off the answers.