If you're like most lawyers, the most powerful thing you can do to better understand juries is to learn more about the lives of people who are not you. No matter how informed, well-rounded, and naturally empathetic you are, this isn't easy. Your mind has a way of insisting that your perspective is the only, rather than merely your own.
Snapshot of the day
The only way to do this is slice by slice, snapshot by snapshot. So here's the snapshot of the day: the OAS Report (that's the Office of Applied Studies of SAMHSA, the government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) called "A Day in the Life of American Adolescents: Substance Use Facts," released last week. The web site has a fact sheet with links to the whole study and a press release, and the highlights are:
- "On an average day in 2006, youth used the following substances for the first time: 7,970 drank alcohol for the first time, 4,348 used an illicit drug for the first time, 4,082 smoked cigarettes for the first time, 3,577 used marijuana for the first time, and 2,517 used pain relievers nonmedically for the first time.
- "Youth who used alcohol in the past month drank an average of 4.7 drinks per day on the days they drank and those who smoked cigarettes in the past month smoked an average of 4.6 cigarettes per day on the days they smoked.
- "On a average day in 2005, the number of youth admissions to substance abuse treatment were referred by the following sources: 189 by the criminal justice system; 66 by self-referral or referral from other individuals; 43 by schools; 37 by community organizations; 22 by alcohol or drug treatment providers; and 18 by other health providers.
- "On an average day in 2005, active substance abuse treatment clients under the age of 18 received the following the types of substance abuse treatment: 76,240 were clients in outpatient treatment; 10,313 were clients in non-hospital residential treatment; and 1,058 were clients in hospital inpatient treatment."
As always with statistics like this, take a minute to consider their full impact. Each of those kids has, or had, two parents. Four grandparents. Siblings, cousins, teachers, social workers, friends.
When you stand up to speak to jurors about young people and substance abuse, there's a strong chance that several of the jurors will know, from experience, what you're talking about.
(Image from Edwart Visser at http://www.flickr.com/photos/flashpro/1441624141/; license details there.)
