Social media posts often used to screen jurors

By Emma Witman ewitman@gainesvilletimes.com

POSTED: July 13, 2014 12:23 a.m.

Online social media profiles have become a seamless extension of our real-world personalities. But with broader access to sharing your life and personality via the Internet come implications, including with the criminal justice system.

“To the extent that prospective jurors choose to make information concerning themselves available to the public at large in social media, it would certainly be appropriate to use that information in the jury selection process,” District Attorney Lee Darragh said.

And this spring, the American Bar Association made it formally known it’s within ethical boundaries for lawyers to search a juror’s or potential juror’s public Internet presence, including posts made by the juror before or during a trial.

“I think it is useful,” said Brad Morris, chief public defender for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit.
After all, in everyday life people check on others as a passing whim, while dredging up information for jury selection serves a different purpose.

“It is the time during jury selection that the attorneys try to ascertain, through questions, if jurors have any preconceived biases or prejudgments,” said Gainesville attorney John Breakfield. “It is crucial for both sides that the jurors selected make a decision based on legally presented evidence in court, not outside influences.”
Voir dire, the process of evaluating potential jurors, is French for “to speak the truth,” he said. The practice is sensible for a truth-seeking process that has always beckoned lawyers to parse any other publicly available information.

“Facebook, Twitter and other social media are the public record of modern times, unless certain privacy settings are in place,” Breakfield said.

And depending on settings, certain facts might be unearthed that would otherwise never see the light: Political views, associations, perhaps even a clearly stated viewpoint on a case that has been concealed or overlooked.

Source: http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/101996/

Read More

Potential Candidate/Employee Monitoring via Social Media

We are pleased to introduce our social media pre-employment screening and monitoring services now available to employers and staffing agencies. Use of social media as an employee screening tool has become much more prevalent over the past few years and as such it is a necessary part of the screening process to research publicly accessible online presence and social media. Much like a background check, social media can provide a wealth of information about potential hires that typical interviews won’t reveal. This information also gives you an edge in choosing candidates. People tend to be much more candid online than in person.

What is social media screening?

Even more so than a background check, social media screening and profiling provides a wealth of information regarding potential hires that a typical interview is able to provide. Social media screening can prevent a potentially embarrassing situation in the future with a potential hire by providing information that is publicly accessible and available on the internet.

Social media screening should be done after a face to face interview has been conducted as details that are covered under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 may be discovered, and should be acquired by a third-party to review the information. Title IV makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex, religion, race, color or national origin. Social media screening can reveal characteristics that are off limits in a normal interview.

What should an employer be looking for that might bear on the worthiness of a job candidate?

• How does the candidate present him/herself to the public?
• What type of judgment does the candidate show?
• Has candidate revealed information about prior jobs or have they revealed potentially confidential information?
• Does candidate speak negatively of former employers?
• Does he/she interact in a way that makes him/her look like a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen?
• Does online speech or behavior appear so egregious that it could affect company reputation?

Social media monitoring is also available for current employees to ensure that they are not releasing potentially private information, to search for the public release of proprietary information, HIPAA violations, violations of company's social media policies, and much more. Our prices are competitive and 24-hour turnaround and same-day reporting are available.

Read More