Do Jurors Discriminate? Evidence from Changes in State Juror Selection Procedures

Lee, Jean N.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1454865

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…18 Also of note, Lee (2009) finds evidence that states that switched from key-man jury selection procedures to more random selection procedures saw a resulting drop in the share of new admissions to prison accounted for by nonwhites and infers that having more blacks on the jury resulted in blacks being less likely to be convicted. In addition to the possibility that other unrelated factors (changes in the criminal behavior of whites versus non-whites over this period) had an effect on new prison admissions, it is impossible to tell whether Lee's result is obtained simply because black and white jurors use different standards for all defendants or discriminate on the basis of defendant race.…”

Section: Description Of Jury Data From Sarasota and Lake Countiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials

Anwar¹,

Bayer²,

Hjalmarsson³

2010

107

121

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This paper examines the impact of jury racial composition on trial outcomes using a unique data set of felony trials in Florida between 2000 and 2010. We utilize a research design that exploits day-to-day variation in the composition of the jury pool to isolate quasi-random variation in the composition of the seated jury, finding evidence that: (i) juries formed from all-white jury pools convict black defendants significantly (16 percentage points) more often than white defendants and (ii) this gap in conviction rates is entirely eliminated when the jury pool includes at least one black member. The impact of jury race is much greater than what a simple correlation of the race of the seated jury and conviction rates would suggest. These findings imply that the application of justice is highly uneven and raise obvious concerns about the fairness of trials in jurisdictions with a small proportion of blacks in the jury pool. IntroductionThe Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishes the right of a defendant charged with a crime to a trial by an impartial jury. 1 Yet the history of American criminal justice is replete with cases where the abstract promise of jury impartiality has been called into question. Of special concern are settings where a minority member of a population is tried in a location in which few, if any, members of the same minority are likely to serve on the jury. 2 This concern has arisen repeatedly in the context of race, as blacks generally constitute a small fraction of the population, and therefore seated juries, in the majority of U.S. states and counties. Vastly unequal outcomes -the proportion of blacks in the prison population is almost four times that in the general population -along with anecdotal evidence from many cases have led numerous observers to question whether the criminal justice system treats black defendants (and victims) fairly.Despite the fundamental importance of the equal and impartial application of the law for the American criminal justice system, the empirical literature on the effect of jury racial composition on trial outcomes is sparse and flawed. Studies based on experimental evidence from "mock" trials are limited by numerous simplifications made for experimental expediency and, more fundamentally, by the substantially lower stakes compared to real criminal trials. 3 And, the few studies that examine the correlation between the composition of the seated jury and trial outcomes are problematic because the seated jury results from a non-random selection process. 4 In particular, in the vast majority of criminal trials in the United States, prosecution and defense attorneys are able to exclude a sizeable number of potential jurors in the jury pool from the seated jury without explanation through the use of peremptory challenges. As a result, even if the initial jury pool is randomly drawn, the composition of the seated jury may be correlated with the nature of the charges and evidence in the case as well as the attributes of the defendant.Given th...

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Section: Description Of Jury Data From Sarasota and Lake Countiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials

Anwar¹,

Bayer²,

Hjalmarsson³

2010

107

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…4 See Bowers , Steiner and Sandys (2001), who look at capital trials, and Daudistel et al (1999), who look at nonfelony trials. Also of note, Lee (2009) finds evidence that states that switched from key-man jury selection procedures to more random selection procedures, which were meant to increase black representation on juries, saw a resulting drop in the share of non-whites among new admissions to prison.! if the initial jury pool is randomly drawn, the composition of the seated jury may be correlated with the nature of the charges and evidence in the case as well as the attributes of the defendant.…”

Section: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines the impact of jury racial composition on trial outcomes using a data set of felony trials in Florida between 2000 and 2010. We utilize a research design that exploits day-to-day variation in the composition of the jury pool to isolate quasi-random variation in the composition of the seated jury, finding evidence that: (i) juries formed from all-white jury pools convict black defendants significantly (16 percentage points) more often than white defendants and (ii) this gap in conviction rates is entirely eliminated when the jury pool includes at least one black member. The impact of jury race is much greater than what a simple correlation of the race of the seated jury and conviction rates would suggest. These findings imply that the application of justice is highly uneven and raise obvious concerns about the fairness of trials in jurisdictions with a small proportion of blacks in the jury pool.

show abstract

Do Jurors Discriminate? Evidence from Changes in State Juror Selection Procedures

Cited by 2 publications

References 20 publications

The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials

The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials

The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials

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