The Ultimate Juror (Review) iPhone/iPod/iPad

Review Score:

Think of it as the bar exam for graduates from the University of Law & Order.

No need for more than a few basic facts about somebody beheading his friend, since facts aren’t all that relevant to the verdict. What really matters is whether you accept the female dog walker or the male restaurant owner as a juror (without being able to question or know anything more about them). And it’s all resolved tidily in less time than it takes Lionel Hutz to entice clients with the gift of a half-consumed Orange Julius.

This concept is being touted as a serious law school learning and discussion tool in The Ultimate Juror, an iPhone app gamers may not notice since it’s sold in the Education category. The overall legal content might be lacking, but it actually is great training for a certain type of attorney who tends to make a lot of money.

Given the enormous popularity of the L&O franchise, courtroom novels and media-circus trials, it doesn’t seem completely nuts to suggest people might be interested in an authentic simulation of the legal justice system. We’re not talking about big-name releases like Phoenix Wright and those based on L&O that are seemingly popular because of TV-like sensationalism. Normal courtrooms are considerably more complex and mundane, but such a simulation hardly seems unmarketable given the massive amount of time gamers spend managing salary caps in Madden and adjusting settings in Tycoon/Sims/Developer programs.

Plenty of desktop computer options exist from free browser-based games by Scholastic to massively expensive creations of nuance from law schools/companies/organizations. I’ve been striking out in my efforts to find similar iPhone apps, although I did enjoy the previously reviewed Wolfy and Weasely, one of most entertaining and well-presented of the gazillon or so trivia games that allow even beginning programmers to make a quick buck (it uses clever cartoon strips to depict a situation, then quizzes the user on legal issues related to it).

The sales pitch for The Ultimate Juror isn’t shy, with the App Store summary claiming it is “a fantastic educational tool for legal study students.” The player, as the prosecution or defense, selects 12 jurors from a large pool, proceeds to case arguments and then the verdict. The promo copy suggests students can learn and debate not just jury selection, but how evidence presented may affect their verdict.

But, like lawyers who promise a favorable resolution to your case, accepting at face value what common sense suggests are dubious claims is likely to end in disappointment.

The first warning signal is most of the “vital statistics” about the app, such as system requirements and age rating, are in Chinese (update: this has been fixed in the weeks following its release). I have no trouble with the developer canApps being from China – in fact, it’s a plus they’re at least claiming to offer a simulation applicable to jury systems in numerous countries – but it doesn’t speak well to the care they took since the only language the program itself uses is English.

Also, if you take a moment to study the promo screenshots you’ll realize there aren’t any action options for the trial itself – just two short screens of text for the case details and arguments. So all you’re really doing is picking a jury you hope will deliver a favorable verdict.

OK, maybe that’s a more realistic expectation for a mobile app costing $1.99. And it’s not like that has to be dull since plenty of people making a living doing nothing but profiling jurors. But this process also turns out to be so shallow as to be largely worthless, which is made all the worse by the fact at least some additional information that could add depth exists, but is hidden from the user until after the trial when it is largely useless (unless there’s a hung jury and some tidbit might indicate a juror’s likelihood of switching their vote, but even that isn’t reliable for reasons to be explained shortly).

So there’s no questioning of jurors to determine biases or their ability to apply a law such as capital punishment even if they disagree with the concept. And no questioning of whether a challenge by you or the opposing attorney is appropriate (if, say, all the blacks are being eliminated for obvious racial reasons).

Among the positives are the range of cases themselves, from ordinary armed robberies to “cannibalism by sailor” and “beheading friend.” Even the sensational cases usually have some nuance to them, such as the following synopsis of the cannibalism case: “An experienced sailor and a young unemployed man who was working as a deck hand were stranded in a lifeboat with no food or fresh water. After five days the sailor decided to kill and eat the deck hand to survive.”

Unfortunately, much of this is offset by not mentioning obvious and highly relevant information until after the jury is picked. Like the omission of information about the jurors themselves, this seems to be sloppy programming more than some lame-brained effort to affect the level of challenge. In the cannibalism case the player is not told beforehand the defendant is a millionaire and the victim an unemployed man, which means as a defense attorney my accepting a 20-year-old unemployed man as a juror was obviously a bad decision I never would have made had I been fully informed.

After picking a jury you essentially proceed to the verdict (it takes a few seconds to read a summary of the arguments presented), which is either a unanimous decision or a hung jury. You can elect to have the jury deliberate more – extremely odd, since the judge is supposed to decide that – at which point you can view a few more details about the jurors to determine if any seem likely to vote a certain way. But, again, the usefulness of this too-late data is largely negated by a boasted about “wildcard” feature, which will make a juror behave the opposite of what might seem obvious. In other words, a lot of the time the outcome is random and what few strategic decisions you make are for nought.

There’s a couple of other mildly positive features, including a decent overview of the jury trial system as used by many countries in the opening “about section” and a docket of cases that can make for interesting discussion without ever playing the simulated trial. But those are things you can get in an instant through Google, so paying $1.99 for what’s basically a small index card collection of them isn’t the greatest of investments.

Perhaps this is too many words to waste on such a trivial app, but if canApps or another developer is serious about offering a jury trial simulation with some depth it ought to be made clear what is being overlooked in The Ultimate Juror. A decent game of this type doesn’t require a master programmer, just one willing to invest a lot of time on content and diligence ensuring it is presented authentically.

Mark Sabbatini

UltimateJuror by canApps
Price: $1.99
Category: Simulation
Requires: iOS 4.0 or later
Rating: 9+ for occasional or mild adult or suggestive themes
Size: 0.5MB