NCJ Number
95135
Journal
Social Psychology Quarterly Volume: 40 Issue: 3 Dated: (1983) Pages: 200-212
Date Published
1983
Length
13 pages
Annotation
A computer simulation was used to examine the effect of a consistent, uncompromising juror opinion on jury decisionmaking.
Abstract
The factorial design was three (decision rule: unanimous, five-sixths, or two-thirds) by two (jury size of 6 or 12) by five (number of members voting to acquit: 0 to 4) by five (apparent defendant guilt/probability of voting to convict of .l, .3, .5, .7, or .9); 300 juries were simulated of .l, .3, .5, .7, or .9); 300 juries were simulated in each of the conditions. At low probabilities of guilt, when the consistent jurors were part of the majority, they had little effect on model predictions. At high probabilities of guilt, when the consistent jurors were in the minority, the amount of influence on acquittal rate was affected to a large degree by jury size, while the decision rule had almost no effect on acquittal rate but did increase the rate of hung juries. The results have implications for legal policy decisions.