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Wonder what your Facebook “likes” say about you? So do lawyers.
In order to weed out potential jurors who are less likely to side with their clients, lawyers are increasingly taking to the popular social networking site. In scouring profiles of would-be jurors, lawyers are able to gain clues to how religious someone is, what television shows they watch and their other interests and hobbies — all of which could potentially be valuable information in deciding who to select for service.
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For example, liking the show CSI on Facebook could tell lawyers that the prospective juror may have “unrealistic expectations that DNA evidence could be obtained from every crime scene,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Lawyers also look for how active the person is on Twitter and other sites where users detail their lives online, as someone who is chatty may be prone to reveal closed-door jury deliberations publicly. They are also wary of people who rant their opinions, as those folks may try to dominate discussions.
However, it would seem lawyers are able to properly stalk only those Facebookers who have still not restricted their privacy settings. NewsFeed wonders if those folks are smart enough to serve on a jury anyway. (via Wall Street Journal)
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