Civil trials and criminal trials are as different as night and day. In a criminal trial, the burden is on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. To borrow the jargon of my old law professor, thats a crazy high standard. In a civil case a party only has to prove their case by a preponderance of the evidence. Essentially, all they have to get is 50.1%.
So right there the case of the plaintiff/prosecution has become ridiculously easier. Add to that the different procedural rules and obtaining a verdict is much easier.
As far as the larger argument, a defendant has the RIGHT to a fair and impartial jury. The only way to get this is to find out information about the people in the jury pool.
Simply put, your unfounded paranoia is overwhelmingly trumped by the constitutional rights of the defendant. Get over it.