Lengthy service as a judge or in law enforcement sometimes makes a person a bit paranoid. After sixteen years on the bench, The Honorable Patricia D. Marks, the Supervising Judge for the Criminal Courts in New York's Seventh Judicial District, worried that pop cultural works might be affecting the jurors in her courtroom. Hollywood films, she thought, could make potential jurors leery of serving. Television shows could influence the jurors' understanding of their role. Was Judge Marks being unduly concerned? She perhaps asked herself that very question. But then, after working to guarantee her jurors were not biased by popular culture, she saw an Internet posting from a man who had been summoned for jury duty and actually was doing his "homework" by watching Jury Duty (1995), Trial By Jury (1994), and 12 Angry Men (1957).

For jurors in other courtrooms and for average citizens as well, it seems likely that popular culture affects what they think of the courtroom and courtroom proceedings. In the first section of this essay, I proffer a definition of popular culture and raise the question of how we might study its impact. In the second section, I present a short overview of the way portrayals of the courts have been central in American popular culture during the last century and point out how comfortable Americans are with the courtroom as cultural convention. In section three, I explore the impact of court-related popular culture on what Americans think of and expect from their courts. In the conclusion, I suggest a few steps that could be taken to limit popular culture's impact. . . . [for full article click the PDF below]