NCJ Number
89771
Date Published
1982
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the literature to identify forces promoting and opposing courtroom innovations.
Abstract
The author discusses innovations as a scientific-technical problem and as a legal-organizational one. He considers three prominent examples of court innovations fueled, at least in part, by behavioral research: reductions in jury size and relaxation of the jury decision rule, provision of sentencing guidelines to judges, and introduction of video technology into the courtroom. The article also comments on the prospects for implementation of these innovations and mentions a number of dilemmas surrounding policy-oriented research. About 75 references are cited.