Peremptory Challenges

• Author: Nancy S. Marder
• Pages: 1898-1899

Page 1898

Peremptory challenges are challenges given to both parties to a litigation allowing them to dismiss prospective jurors during jury selection without having to give a reason. In recent years, the Supreme Court has recognized constitutional limits on peremptories; as a result, there are some circumstances in which a reason must be given for challenging a juror.

In both federal and states courts, prospective jurors are summoned from the community for JURY SERVICE. They are assigned to panels, known as venires, and from the venire a jury is selected. Before a prospective juror is seated on a jury, however, there is a process during which the judge and/or attorneys question the prospective juror; this questioning is known as VOIR DIRE. One purpose of voir dire, whether it is conducted by the judge or by the attorneys, is to ensure that the jurors selected to serve on the jury can be impartial; those who cannot be impartial will be removed.

There are two ways to remove a prospective juror from a jury. One way is for an attorney to raise a challenge "for cause." The attorney must give a reason for such a challenge. Among accepted reasons are that the prospective juror is related to one of the participants in the trial, or that the prospective juror has admitted that he or she cannot be impartial in the case. The decision whether to grant a for-cause challenge is up to the trial judge. Trial judges do not grant for-cause challenges readily, perhaps because there is another way for attorneys to remove a prospective juror from the jury.

The second way to remove a prospective juror is through the use of a peremptory challenge. In every trial, whether in state or federal court or whether the trial is for a civil or criminal matter, the parties are allotted a certain number of peremptory challenges. The number varies, depending on the type of case and whether it is in federal or state court. The number of peremptories is provided by statute and/or by court rules. For example, according to federal statute, in federal court in a civil trial each side is entitled to three peremptory challenges. According to a federal rule, in federal court in a criminal trial, the number of peremptories varies depending on the type of offense charged. For example, if the offense charged is punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, the prosecutor is entitled to six peremptories, whereas the defendant is entitled to ten.

The exercise of...