NCJ Number
188448
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2000 Pages: 31-40
Date Published
2000
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study describes all 566 Federal cases that were appealed from 1964 through March 1999 due to the use of the directive called the Allen Charge, a trial instruction issued by the presiding judge to the jury to encourage a quick verdict when the decision making process appears to have stalled.
Abstract
The research developed a codebook that specified variables that conceivably could affect a jury’s decision. These variables included the type of crime, day of week, number of hours already spent in deliberation, holiday season, crime seriousness, defendant gender, and defendant race or ethnicity. Results revealed an association of the affirmation of a guilty verdict with the type of crime, holiday season, and defendant gender. Homicides had guilty verdicts affirmed 87.1 percent of the time, compared with only 22.2 percent of civil cases. In addition, the average post-Allen deliberation time was 2 hours and 16 minutes near a holiday season such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, compared to 3 hours and 23 minutes for non-holiday times. Moreover, females were less likely than males to give guilty verdicts affirmed. These differences were statistically significant. Findings suggested the need for a critical re-examination of the use of the Allen Charge. Table, list of cases, and 11 references (Author abstract modified)