Good Book on Jury Decision Making: Facts Can't Speak for Themselves - Reveal the Stories that Give Facts their Meaning
I’ve been reading Facts Can't Speak for Themselves: Reveal the Stories that Give Facts their Meaning by Eric G. Oliver recently. A fascinating book on how to present information to help jurors learn and how the decision making process works. Here’s a synopsis of the book:
Legal decision makers construct their own case story version when judging a case. In fact, they reauthor their own version of the case story presented to them several times before arriving at the one they use to decide the case.
Their individual stories influence the verdict as much as individual backgrounds and beliefs, or the attorney’s case presentation in court. This groundbreaking book offers straightforward steps for trial professionals to identify and use these stories to refine the most compelling presentation for listeners to judge. Learn:
- How and why legal decision makers construct their own case stories and use them to decide a case
- The importance of crafting and communicating a case to decision makers as a story and why it can be the most direct and influential way to address decision makers
- Which focus groups best reveal the range of stories versions listeners can build from your case
- How to run voir dire like focus groups and focus groups like voir dire
- Why you should never ask focus group members which side in a case they like
- Why you should think twice before ever again asking a ‘why’ question in voir dire or focus groups
- How to take full advantage of the only four channels available to deliver any legal case Sample Chapter Contents
- The ‘Problem’ with Focus Groups
- Packaging the Facts: Theme, Scope, Point-of-View, and Sequence
- The Process of Story Growth
- Decision Making Biases or Heuristics
- Hot Topics and ‘Silver Bullets’
- Theme and Story Elements
- Three sample opening statement sections
- Appendix includes printable focus group polling forms
It’s good stuff. I’ll write more as I get further through the book.
Whats the relationship between jury decision making, courtroom testimony, eyewitness testimony and identification?
Rachel,
I take it you may be in a Criminal Justice class like me looking to research the same question. I found that by researching each part of the relationship actually gave me a better understanding of not just the common factors related to each issue but also how each part in itself can make a juror in favor or against a persons guilt or innocence.
