Roles of neighborhood race and status in the middle stages of juror selection

Selected to Serve: An Analysis of Lifetime Jury Participation

“…Some factors—particularly disqualifications on the basis of limited fluency in English or a felony record—almost certainly disproportionately eliminate minorities from service (e.g., Uggen & Manza 2002). But, generally speaking, there are few studies of this so‐called middle stage of jury selection (Taylor et al. 2007).…”

“…2007). Taylor and colleagues (2007) found that juror yield (the proportion of jurors who appear at court following a summons) was lower in neighborhoods with more minorities, but patterns were also complex—for example, in racially integrated neighborhoods, the percentage of African Americans positively (rather than negatively) predicted yield. According to one study, whites were more likely thannonwhites to seek exemptions from service (Fukurai & Butler 1991), whereas another study pointed to racial gaps in rates of ignoring a summons (6.3 percent for whites vs. 16.2 percent for nonwhites) (Boatright 1998), although in this sample of 417 respondents, this proportional difference was not statistically significant.…”

“…Empirical investigations on this issue have been mixed. Taylor and colleagues (2007) found that less residentially stable neighborhoods had lower rates of juror yield, but at the individual level, residential stability had no relationship to exemption seeking (Fukurai & Butler 1991). Apart from residential stability, involvement in religious communities is a common indicator of social embeddedness (see Idler et al.…”

Jury Selection in Child Sex Abuse Trials: A Case Analysis

“…Race and SES possess public and psychological salience in a legal setting. Indeed, empirical findings have demonstrated racial disparities in the guilt judgment of the O. J. Simpson trials (Brigham & Wasserman, 1999), and these constructs have been employed in jury selection research (e.g., Sommors & Norton, 2007;Taylor, Ratcliffe, Dote, & Lawton, 2007). Existing psychological research also supports both race (e.g., Sommors & Ellsworth, 2000) and SES (e.g., Freeman, 2006) as mitigating factors considered by jurors during the decision-making process.…”

Empirical analysis of juries in tort cases

“…If people care only about their own direct welfare, citizens would avoid jury duty and, when unable to escape service, minimize the time they spend as jurors with hasty deliberations aimed at swift verdicts. Although some citizens could gain emotional and civic benefits from jury service that might foster engagement, a sizeable proportion of citizens do attempt to avoid service by failing to respond to summonses (Taylor, Ratcliffe, Dote, & Lawton, 2007) and giving answers to questions during jury selection that are likely to result in excuse or dismissal (Cosper, 2003;Rose, 2005;Rose & Diamond, 2008). Yet the consistent picture of jurors who are seated in a trial shows that they tend to be motivated and remarkably diligent in attempting to reach the "right" verdict (Diamond, 2012;Feigenson, 2000).…”