hat anonymous juries remedy this systemic inequality. Without names and addresses, prosecutors could not take advantage of the superior informational and investigative resources of the government. Anonymity thus ensures that both sides are on equal footing with regard to information about prospective jurors. Although the limited voir dire is constitutional, it prevents access to information on which attorneys rely substantially in exercising their peremptory challenges. Consequently, attorneys should have alternative access to jurors' ethnic backgrounds and approximate community if the disclosure would not jeopardize jurors' security. The Presumption of Innocence Unlike security measures that unequivocally point to the defendant, juror anonymity could be perceived to address potential disturbances wholly unrelated to the defendant. Yet, critics of the anonymous jury contend that prospective jurors could only read the anonymity instruction to be a judicial conclusion of the defendant's guilt.18 Therefore, they cannot obey the contradictory instruction to presume the defendant innocent until the governnment meets its burden of proof.19 Although plausible, this conclusion necessarily depends on certain unsupported assump tions about juror perception and knowledge. The potential burden of jury anonymity on the defendant's presumption of innocence was conceded in United States v. Thomas.20 It was even recognized that the prejudicial impact on the defendant could not be eliminated totally. In rejecting a per se rule against anonymity, the Thomas Court underlined two essential prerequisites for use of an anonymous jury. First, there should be "strong reason to believe the jury needs protection," and second, reasonable precaution must be taken to minimize the negative effect of use of the anonymous jury "on the juror's opinions of the defendants." 21 Unfortunately, the court also endorsed c...
