Category Archives: Verdicts juries reach
In the age of Trump, a sign that jurors can still set politics aside
Many people probably wondered whether the jurors in the Manafort trial would be able to set aside any question of how a verdict might affect Special Prosectuor Robert Mueller’s investigation. There was relatively little discussion of this, but all it … Continue reading
When jurors herd together and when they stand their ground
A new study re-uses some of the data collected for the Jury and Democracy Project, along with original complementary data, to show when juries herd together and when they remain divided. A team of researchers in California, Maryland, and North … Continue reading
Florida Supreme Court: Imposition of Death Sentence Requires Unanimous Jury
Written by Ethan Paul, undergraduate student at the Pennsylvania State University The Florida Supreme Court ruled on Friday, October 14, that it is unconstitutional for the death penalty to be imposed without the unanimous support of a jury. As the New … Continue reading
Australian jurors and judges disagree on sentencing
Written by Ethan Paul, undergraduate student at the Pennsylvania State University In a soon-to-be published study, Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner, former director of the Tasmania Law Reform Institute, found that juries consistently bestow more lenient sentences than do judges. Warner … Continue reading
The problem of skewed jury demographics
Written by Ethan Paul, undergraduate student at the Pennsylvania State University NYPD Officer Peter Liang is facing trial after being accused of recklessly shooting Akai Gurley in a dimly-lit stairwell in East New York on November 20th, 2015. Gurley, a 28-year … Continue reading
Florida Supreme Court affirms the power of the jury
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court helped secure the power of the jury in the U.S. by requiring Florida courts to give juries, and juries alone, the power to judge the key facts in death penalty cases. Previously, juries’ findings … Continue reading
But who will guard the guardians? On county prosecutors, grand juries, and indicting police officers
With the passage of another week, there’s another case of a grand jury failing to indict a police officer who killed another African-American citizen, Eric Gardner. In the New York case, the coroner ruled the death a homicide and the … Continue reading
On juries, grand juries, and Ferguson, Missouri
As outrage builds about the failure to indict the officer who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the work of the grand jury itself. This blog focuses on criminal and civil … Continue reading
Demystifying jury duty
It’s not often that a newspaper runs a story that debunks common misconceptions about jury duty, so I single out a good example of such reporting that comes from the Richmond Register. The author makes jury duty sound much less … Continue reading
Discussing the jury in America with Albert Dzur and John Gastil
Joshua Miller of Morgan State University recently recorded a discussion he orchestrated via GoogleHangout with political scientist Albert Dzur and me (John Gastil). The interview-like-thing runs about 23 minutes and gives you some insight into what Albert and I have … Continue reading
Jury and Democracy Blog 