NCJ Number
174091
Date Published
Unknown
Length
24 pages
Annotation
The relationship between the race of jurors and the outcomes of adjudication was examined by means of an analysis of racial makeup of New York counties and the jury acquittal rates in those counties between 1986 and 1995.
Abstract
The research included only the 27 counties in which at least 100 criminal verdicts were rendered. These counties produced 35,595 verdicts, ranging from 110 in Sullivan County to 8,817 in New York County (Manhattan). The research combined the number of blacks and non-black Hispanics to obtain the percentage of blacks and Hispanics living in each county. Results revealed a close relationship between racial demography and jury behavior. The jurisdiction with the highest minority percentage was the highest in acquittals; the county with the lowest rate of acquittals was the second from the lowest in minority population. The statistical correlation (Pearson's r) between percentage minority population and acquittal rate across all 27 counties was .55, significant at the .01 level. Results also suggested that the locus of the trial was a crucial factor. Differing verdicts in two jurisdictions in two cases involving Bernard Goetz, who shot four black youths on a subway, exemplify this issue. Findings indicated that racially based perspectives, although normally hidden to the jurors themselves and generally unacknowledged by them, seem to be a hovering presence in the jury box and the jury room, although race is not the only factor that influences jury decisionmaking. Footnote and 30 references