Criminal Juries in the 21st Century

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret C. Stevenson ◽  
Cynthia J. Najdowski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Common ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Jury Decision

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the goals of the present volume and a preview of the individual chapters herein. Specifically, it reviews research on various understudied and cutting-edge topics related to the intersection of psychological research and criminal jury decision-making. This research is placed in a real-world context by relating it to actual criminal cases that exemplify each topic addressed in the volume. In doing so, the chapter focuses on the common themes that are reflected in all of the chapters of the volume: the need to understand how issues such as societal attitudinal shifts, technological advances, and juror experiences affect the structure, function, and performance of the modern criminal jury; the merits of implementing legal innovations and practices informed by empirical research; and important avenues for future empirical exploration.

Criminal Juries in the 21st Century

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Just Decisions ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Scientific Attention ◽  
The Right

The jury is often celebrated as an important symbol of American democracy. Yet much has changed since 1791 when the Sixth Amendment guaranteed all citizens the right to a jury trial in criminal prosecutions. Psychological and legal scholars have empirically evaluated many claims about the strengths and limitations of the jury system. Now, scientific attention is focusing on new challenges that contemporary juries face. The authors of the chapters in this volume consider myriad legal issues that arise when jurors decide criminal cases while reviewing cutting-edge psychological research and ways that this research can improve the experience and performance of the modern criminal jury. The first part of this book reviews recent societal shifts in attitudes and their potential impact on the demographic and ideological composition of the criminal jury and, in turn, the jury’s ability to make fair and just decisions. The second part of the book considers how recent technological advances have generated new sources of influence on jurors’ evaluations of evidence and decision-making. The final part of the book examines how emotions impact the jury decision-making process and individual citizens’ experiences of serving as jurors. Each of these sets of issues is relevant to understanding the structure, functioning, and performance of today’s juries. This volume offers a unique and broad view of criminal juries, drawing attention to a wide range of issues that impact jurors’ decision-making in the 21st century and, thus, are in need of theoretical, scientific, and legal attention.

scholarly journals On Juror Decision Making: An Empathic Inquiry

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 415-435
Author(s):  
Dan Simon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Juror Decision Making ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Fact Finding ◽  
Jury Decision ◽  
Societal Expectations

This review examines the workings of jurors deciding criminal cases. It seeks not to commend or condemn jury decision making but rather to offer an empathic exploration of the task that jurors face in exercising their fact-finding duty. Reconstructing criminal events in the courtroom amounts to a difficult feat under the best of circumstances. The task becomes especially complicated under the taxing conditions of criminal adjudication: the often substandard evidence presented in court; the paucity of the investigative record; types of evidence that are difficult to decipher; the unruly decision-making environment of the courtroom; and mental gymnastics required to meet the normative demands of criminal adjudication. The critical spotlight is directed not at the jurors but at the conditions under which we expect them to fulfill their duty and at the unverified reverence in which their verdicts are held. The article concludes with a set of recommendations designed to assist our fact-finders in meeting the societal expectations of this solemn task.

Neuroscience and Jury Decision-Making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelby Hunter ◽  
N. J. Schweitzer ◽  
Jillian M. Ware
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Expert Evidence ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Current State ◽  
Jury Decision ◽  
Lay Public

This chapter examines the emerging use of neuroscience evidence in criminal trials and its influence on jury decision-making. It begins with a look at the prevalence of neuroscience expert evidence in criminal cases, finding a rapid increase in its use both in and outside of the United States. It then looks at the broader research on how the lay public is persuaded by neuroscience-derived information, followed by an examination of the relatively young literature on the specific (and often paradoxical) impact of neuroscience and neuroimagery on jurors’ judgments of criminal defendants. The chapter concludes with some caveats about the current state of neuroscience with respect to the legal system and some recommendations for future research.

Jury Decision Making in the Context of Excuse Defenses

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Peters ◽  
James Michael Lampinen ◽  
William Blake Erickson ◽  
Lindsey Nicole Sweeney ◽  
Brad Zeiler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Jury Decision

Making a biased jury decision: Using the Steven Avery murder case to investigate potential influences in jury decision-making.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-436
Author(s):  
Lourdes Rodriguez ◽  
Stephanie Agtarap ◽  
Adriel Boals ◽  
Nathan T. Kearns ◽  
Lee Bedford
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Jury Decision

An Undergraduate Course in Psychology and the Law

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Greene ◽  
Edith Greene
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Teaching Aids ◽  
The Law ◽  
Jury Decision

This article describes a course that bridged the disciplines of clinical and experimental psychology and the law. The course included discussion of issues in criminal law, such as the psychology of policing, the reliability of confessions, victimization, plea bargaining, jury decision making, and alternative dispute resolution, and in civil law, such as civil commitment, predicting dangerousness, and child custody. Course objectives, requirements, and teaching aids are outlined, and some thoughts on integrating these diverse topics are included.

scholarly journals The Two–dimensional Model of Jury Decision Making

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
Manfred J. Holler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Utility Maximization ◽  
Simple Majority ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Dimensional Model ◽  
Single Group ◽  
Voting Game ◽  
Conflicting Interests ◽  
Jury Decision

Abstract This paper discusses a two-dimensional jury model. It combines the idea of winning a maximum of votes in a voting game with utility maximization that derives from the winning proposition. The model assumes a first mover, the plaintiff, and a second-mover, the counsel of the defendant. Typically, these agents represent parties that have conflicting interests. Here they face a jury that consists of three groups of voters such that no single group has a majority of votes. Each group is characterized by homogeneous preferences on three alternatives that describe the possible outcomes. The outcome is selected by a simple majority of the jury members. The agents are interested in both gaining the support of a majority of jury members and seeing their preferred alternative selected as outcome. It will be demonstrated that equilibrium decision making can be derived for this model.

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