Jury Duties

Every few years, I get a little thrill when I receive my jury summons. Most people hate this hassle, but I like the idea of making my small civic contribution. I pack a book, call out of work and head to the courthouse. Yet I’ve never been selected. I guess it’s nice to get my day back, but it leaves me a little forlorn. (Trial lawyers tell me they often avoid seating journalists because we’re more likely to know things about high-profile cases. Also, when you’re trained to seek more information, it’s tough to consider only what you’re told in court.)

But I felt less wistful about my exclusion after I read a story The Times published today. It’s about what happens to jurors in trials for the most disturbing crimes. They might spend weeks contemplating gruesome acts and examining spine-chilling evidence. But they’re forbidden to discuss any of it. Carrying around these dark thoughts, the science says, may lead to years of trauma. I asked Liz Krieger, the freelance reporter who wrote the piece, about the issue.

Did you get the idea for this story from your own jury service? What happened?

I was selected for a child sexual abuse case in Brooklyn last November. For seven days, I examined graphic photographic evidence and listened to testimony about abuse of a baby. The judge’s instructions were clear: We couldn’t talk about the trial with anyone — not our spouses, friends or even fellow jurors. I found myself replaying these horrific images with no outlet to process them. I’d go home to make dinner for my own kids, haunted by what I’d seen. It felt like being forced to swallow poison and then being told not to seek an antidote.

And you realized you couldn’t be the only person struggling in this way.

Exactly. More than a million Americans serve on juries each year, and half of those cases involve violent crimes. What about all those people looking at crime scene photos and autopsy images? Are they all just supposed to go home and pretend it never happened?

What did you find out when you started reporting?

In one study, about 50 percent of jurors who served on difficult cases showed trauma-related symptoms like sleeplessness, intrusive thoughts or anxiety. Another recent study found that even participants in a mock murder trial experienced a fourfold increase in PTSD symptoms after viewing skeletal remains. Mental health experts have a name for this: “vicarious trauma” or “secondary traumatic stress.” Yet historically, courts have provided jurors with virtually no support.

What kinds of cases are we talking about?

Any case involving disturbing, graphic evidence — murders, sexual assaults, child abuse, violent crimes. Chloe Beck, whom I interviewed, served on the trial of a nanny accused of stabbing two children to death. She told me she still sees those crime scene images years later: “The little orange toothbrush hanging on the wall — covered in blood.” She hasn’t had kids yet, partly because the thought of needing child care terrifies her.