Topic: Does the internet make jury bias more likely today than it did twenty years ago?

Topic: Does the internet make jury bias more likely today than it did twenty years ago?

Thesis Statement: Pretrial publicity for high-profile crimes has become more difficult to overcome by a change of venue and sequestering of juries since the internet makes the news available to a larger portion of the population at incredibly fast rates.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2010). Country comparison: Internet users. The World Factbook Online. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2153rank.html

The CIA Fact Book provides statistics on internet users in the United States compared to other countries. The Fact Book website is produced by the United States Central Intelligence Agency which is a trusted source of information. The internet user statistics gives a date of 2008 which was more recent than other similar statistic websites. The statistics are given in a graphical display with numbers next to each country, ranked in order of the highest user. The graphics are clear and appropriate for the statistics and give a comparison of up to 216 countries, a high sample size.

Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. (2010, March 1). Understanding the participatory news consumer. Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/understanding_participatory_news_consumer

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism uses empirical data to study the performance and methods of the news media in today’s society. This study was very recently done and shows the statistics behind new technologies and the way people use them to get involved with the news through social contacts. The Pew Research Center expresses itself as an unbiased source of information. This study in particular contains well-researched and organized data necessary in understanding the changing world of journalism.

Ruva, C., McEvoy, C., & Bryant, J. B. (2007). Effects of pretrial publicity and jury deliberation on juror bias and source memory errors. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21, 45-67. doi: 10.1002/acp.1254

This journal article provides research into pretrial publicity when a jury deliberates a case. The authors’ credentials are listed and the journal is a well-respected scholarly journal in the psychology field. The article is timely and provides a scientific explanation rather than a social one in understanding how jurors exposure to pretrial publicity can unwittingly influence their decision.

U.S. Department of State. (2009, July). Anatomy of a jury trial. eJournal USA, 14(7), 1-45. http://www.america.gov/media/pdf/ejs/0709.pdf

In this e-journal published by the US Department of State the reader is led through the roles played by all participants in a US jury trial. This journal presents an unbiased view of each person’s role as well as common legal terms used at trials. This information is important in understanding the basic tenets of American law during a trial.

US v. Skilling, 554 F.3d 529 (5th Cir. 2009). Google Scholar. http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1418107983925207050&q=Skilling+v.+U.S.&hl=en&as_sdt=40002

This is a United States Supreme Court case heard in March of 2010 as to whether or not Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling received a fair trial in part based on pretrial media exposure by the jury. The case’s currency makes this topic more relevant than older cases. The brief was found from a Google Scholar Legal search and simply states the facts as read by the Supreme Court in granting Skilling an audience.

Sample 2

Best, J. (1998). Too much fun: Toys as social problems and the inte1pretation of culture. Symbolic Interaction, 21(2), 197-212. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org

Sociologist Joel Best argues that social anxieties about popular children’s entertainment especially that they might exert “dark” influence over are not new. He points to newspaper and book commentaries dating back a century to demonstrate that these kinds of fears have been around for a long time. Back then, people worried about violent imagery in the cheap adventure novels sold to boys. In more recent times, the focus shifted to movies and television, and it now hovers around violent video games.

This article is relevant to my paper because it asserts that violence in terms of children’s playtime and toys has been an ongoing issue since before video games were invented, which supports my claim that video games cannot be held responsible for aggressive behaviors in children.

Poiter, G., & Starcevic, V. (2007). Are violent video games harmful? Australasian Psychiatry, 15(5), 422-426. doi:10.1080/10398560701463343.

This article is relevant to my paper because it asserts that violence in terms of children’s playtime and toys has been an on-going issue since before video games were invented, which supports my claim that video games cannot be held responsible for aggressive behaviors in children.

Psychiatric researchers Guy Poiter and Vladan Starcevic conducted a broad examination of the literature on video games and aggression that was available in 2007 when this article was published. Their analysis includes a study that found that adolescents who play violent video games also exhibit more hostility and aggressive behavior through fights, arguments, and poor school performance. The authors also reviewed studies

involving individuals playing violent video games in a laboratory setting that demonstrate a connection between the video game play and aggressive feelings and behaviors. They conclude that while available evidence does not demonstrate a direct causal connection between violent play and violent acts, it does suggest that violent play has the potential to worsen “hostile” and “antisocial” personal traits in individuals already possessing violent tendencies.

The research article is crucial to my claim of violet video games not being the cause of violence being made because it presents reasonable and scientifically-founded doubt that video games caused violence.

Sample 3

AICPA sets ethical standards for outsourcing. (2005). ​Journal of Accountancy, 199​(1), 8. Retrieved from http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/

This article presents the new standards for outsourcing developed by the AICPA ethics committee. The standards are summarized, and a brief discussion is included of the implications going forward for business and international trade. The authors indicate that changes to the business community will be relatively minor. This is a helpful source for getting an overview of the current ethics standards in outsourcing.

American Management Association. (2010). ​The AMA handbook of business writing. New York, NY: Author.

The American Management Association has created its own guide for business writing. Designed as a supplemental text to more thorough style guides such as APA, this guide covers topics relating specifically to business, such as citing financials, formatting of company reports, and professional approaches to information integrity in the workplace. This is an indispensable work for anyone doing professional business writing.

Barthelemy, J., & Geyer, D. (2005). An empirical investigation of IT outsourcing versus outsourcing in France and Germany. ​Information & Management, 42​,533-542. doi:10.1016/j.im.2004.02.005

The authors present an investigation of IT outsourcing based on the combined results of a survey administered to IT firms as well as statistical measures from domestic and French or German firms. Their data covers a wide range of IT business unit types. However, the lack of longitudinal data weakens their conclusion that the slower pace of French and German IT outsourcing has had a long-term positive effect on business in those countries.