NCJ Number
107791
Editor(s)
L S Wrightsman,
S M Kassin,
C E Willis
Date Published
1987
Length
264 pages
Annotation
These 12 articles include literature reviews and empirical studies focusing on the following 4 issues related to juries: (1) whether jury selection systems are effective, (2) whether jurors are able to make unbiased judgments, (3) whether juries are competent to decide complex civil cases, and (4) whether the size of the jury or the decision rule affects the verdicts.
Abstract
Most of the articles were originally published in psychological journals or law reviews. Accompanying the articles on each topic are introductions and summaries prepared by the volume's editors. The papers on jury selection consider the procedures used in the Harrisburg Seven trial in 1972 and the effectiveness and the ethical appropriateness of the use of scientific jury selection. The analyses of juror bias examine differences between authoritarian and nonauthoritarian individuals, the role of nonrational factors in jury decisionmaking, and discrepancies between the bias of individual jurors and the fairness of jury verdicts. The papers on jury competence in complex civil cases focus on the impacts of the timing and wording of judges' instructions and suggest ways for remedying problems in current procedures. The analyses of jury size and the decision rule discuss research designs for studying jury size, existing literature on jury size, and outcome and process effects of shifting a majority decision rule. Chapter figures, tables, and references.