The Jury Crisis

The Jury Crisis PDF Author: Drury R. Sherrod
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538109549
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Juries have a bad reputation. Often jurors are seen as incompetent, biased and unpredictable, and jury trials are seen as a waste of time and money. In fact, so few criminal and civil cases reach a jury today that trial by jury is on the verge of extinction. Juries are being replaced by mediators, arbitrators and private judges. The wise trial of “Twelve Angry Men” has become a fiction. As a result, a foundation of American democracy is about to vanish. The Jury Crisis: What’s Wrong with Jury Trials and How We Can Save Them addresses the near collapse of the jury trial in America – its causes, consequences, and cures. Drury Sherrod brings his unique perspective as a social psychologist who became a jury consultant to the reader, applying psychological research to real world trials and explaining why juries have become dysfunctional. While this collapse of the jury can be traced to multiple causes, including poor public education, the absence of peers and community standards in a class-stratified, racially divided society, and people’s reluctance to serve on a jury, the focus of this book is on the conduct of trials themselves, from jury selection to evidence presentation to jury deliberations. Judges and lawyers believe – wrongly – that jurors can put aside their biases, sit quietly through hours, days or weeks of conflicting testimony, and not make up their minds until they have heard all the evidence. Unfortunately, the human brain doesn’t work that way. A great deal of psychological research on jurors and other decision-makers shows that our brains intuitively leap to story-telling before we rationally analyze “facts,” or evidence. Weaving details into a narrative is how we make sense of the world, and it’s very hard to suppress this tendency. Consequently, a majority of jurors actually make up their minds before they have heard much of the evidence. Judges, arbitrators and mediators have similar biases. The Jury Crisis deals with an important social problem, namely the near collapse of a thousand year old institution, and proposes how to fix the jury system and restore trial by jury to a more prominent place in American society.

The Jury Crisis

The Jury Crisis PDF Author: Drury R. Sherrod
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538109549
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
Juries have a bad reputation. Often jurors are seen as incompetent, biased and unpredictable, and jury trials are seen as a waste of time and money. In fact, so few criminal and civil cases reach a jury today that trial by jury is on the verge of extinction. Juries are being replaced by mediators, arbitrators and private judges. The wise trial of “Twelve Angry Men” has become a fiction. As a result, a foundation of American democracy is about to vanish. The Jury Crisis: What’s Wrong with Jury Trials and How We Can Save Them addresses the near collapse of the jury trial in America – its causes, consequences, and cures. Drury Sherrod brings his unique perspective as a social psychologist who became a jury consultant to the reader, applying psychological research to real world trials and explaining why juries have become dysfunctional. While this collapse of the jury can be traced to multiple causes, including poor public education, the absence of peers and community standards in a class-stratified, racially divided society, and people’s reluctance to serve on a jury, the focus of this book is on the conduct of trials themselves, from jury selection to evidence presentation to jury deliberations. Judges and lawyers believe – wrongly – that jurors can put aside their biases, sit quietly through hours, days or weeks of conflicting testimony, and not make up their minds until they have heard all the evidence. Unfortunately, the human brain doesn’t work that way. A great deal of psychological research on jurors and other decision-makers shows that our brains intuitively leap to story-telling before we rationally analyze “facts,” or evidence. Weaving details into a narrative is how we make sense of the world, and it’s very hard to suppress this tendency. Consequently, a majority of jurors actually make up their minds before they have heard much of the evidence. Judges, arbitrators and mediators have similar biases. The Jury Crisis deals with an important social problem, namely the near collapse of a thousand year old institution, and proposes how to fix the jury system and restore trial by jury to a more prominent place in American society.

The Missing American Jury

The Missing American Jury PDF Author: Suja A. Thomas
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107055652
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
This book explores why juries have declined in power and how the federal government and the states have taken the jury's authority.

Handbook for trial jurors serving in the United States District Courts

Handbook for trial jurors serving in the United States District Courts PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Instructions to juries
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
... The purpose of this handbook is to acquaint trial jurors with the general nature and importance of their role as jurors; explains some of the language and procedures used in court, and offers some suggestions helpful to jurors in performing their duty ...

We, the Jury

We, the Jury PDF Author: Jeffrey B. Abramson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674004306
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
This magisterial book explores fascinating cases from American history to show how juries remain the heart of our system of criminal justice - and an essential element of our democracy. No other institution of government rivals the jury in placing power so directly in the hands of citizens. Jeffrey Abramson draws upon his own background as both a lawyer and a political theorist to capture the full democratic drama that is the jury. We, the Jury is a rare work of scholarship that brings the history of the jury alive and shows the origins of many of today's dilemmas surrounding juries and justice.

The American Jury

The American Jury PDF Author: Harry Kalven
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Race and the Jury

Race and the Jury PDF Author: Hiroshi Fukurai
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1489911278
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
In this timely volume, the authors provide a penetrating analysis of the institutional mechanisms perpetuating the related problems of minorities' disenfranchisement and their underrepresentation on juries.

Why Jury Duty Matters

Why Jury Duty Matters PDF Author: Andrew G. Ferguson
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814729037
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Places the idea of jury duty into perspective, noting its importance as a constitutional responsibility, and describes ways in which the experience may be enriched.

American Juries

American Juries PDF Author: Neil Vidmar
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615929878
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
This monumental and comprehensive volume reviews more than 50 years of empirical research on civil and criminal juries and returns a verdict that strongly supports the jury system.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt PDF Author: Melvyn Bernard Zerman
Publisher: Ty Crowell Company
ISBN: 9780690040944
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
An account of how the American jury system works and where it sometimes fails.

Jury System in America

Jury System in America PDF Author: Rita James Simon
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description