Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
1977
Keywords
Jury, Jurors, United States
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Nathan Hakman
Second Advisor
Thomas J. Denyer
Third Advisor
Don Peretz
Series
Social Sciences
Abstract
Four hundred and fifty-four jurors who served on forty-three criminal trials in Syracuse, New York, were sent questionnaires designed to elicit information concerning their deliberative behavior. One hundred and ninety-four jurors representing 42.6 percent of the total sample returned the survey instrument. This figure represents the efforts of one initial survey and two follow-up surveys.
The purpose of the research is to gain insights into individual and collective juror behavior. After a review of the traditional, legal realist, and behavioral literature concerning deliberative behavior several hypotheses were generated and tested. Two of the four hypotheses received some support. Specifically, a slight positive relationship exists between educational level and influence attempts. And, high status persons who attempt to influence are also more likely than active low status persons to change verdicts.
No statistical relationship exists between influence attempts and sex. Males, however, do appear to change verdicts less often than females. Nor is there support for the hypothesis that high occupational status jurors (i.e., managers and proprietors) are more active than low status (e.g., housewives, sales, clerical, etc.) jurors.
The relationship between occupation and influence attempts is diminished when controlled for education. The college educated jurors are the most consistent in their high frequency of influence attempts. The subgroup that attempts to influence most are comprised of grade, trade, and technical educated proprietors and managers. The subgroup least likely to attempt to influence is the grade, trade, and technical school educated housewives, clerical–laborer persons, and high school educated proprietors and managers. At the college level females attempt to influence more than males, but the opposite relationship exists at the grade school level. High school educated males and females attempt to influence equally.
A positive relationship exists between education and verdict change; as educational level increases, so does the likelihood of verdict change. Virtually no relationship exists between occupational status or sex and verdict change.
The relationship between verdict change and occupation, when controlled for education, becomes muddled. College and grade, trade, and technical school educated proprietors and managers are more likely to change verdicts than are high school educated proprietors or managers. Grade school educated housewives are about as unlikely to change verdicts as are high school educated proprietors and managers. High school educated housewives change verdicts more than any other occupational–educational subgroup. At the college and high school level females appear to change verdicts more than males. In the grade, trade, and technical school category this relationship is reversed.
Role labels were assigned to different groups of jurors in order to delineate their behavior patterns. These labels are Contributor–Abdicator, Inhibitor–Conciliator, and Dependent. Higher status jurors tend to act out the Contributor–Abdicator role. Lower status jurors tend to behave in accordance with the behaviors ascribed to the other two roles.
The findings of this dissertation suggest that the conclusions of some of the small group literature concerning intra-group behavior are not generalizable to the jury milieu. One viable reason for these discrepancies might be due to the difference in the nature of the groups. Juries are presumed democratic institutions in which all persons, regardless of sex, education, or occupation, are accorded equal status during the trial and deliberations.
Recommended Citation
Dow, Paul E., "A study of the juror interaction process in criminal trials" (1977). Graduate Dissertations and Theses. 433.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/dissertation_and_theses/433
