NCJ Number
86361
Journal
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Volume: 43 Issue: 5 Dated: (November 1982) Pages: 1052-1063
Date Published
1982
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Contingencies between 23 demographic/personality variables and jury verdict, juror predeliberational verdict, juror tendency to change his or her verdict, and juror self-perceived participation and influence were examined by step-wise multiple regression for a sample (n=319) of 1975-1976 felony jurors impaneled in the Dade County, Florida state courts.
Abstract
Data were analyzed for the sexes separately, since sex proved to be a significant moderator of predictor-criterion relationships. Conviction-prone male jurors were more interested in having families, had more children, and had lower incomes. They evidenced higher authoritarianism and socialization but lower scores on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Conviction-prone female jurors had higher scores on the Just World Scale, evidenced legal authoritarianism, were more empathic, and were less anomic. In this venue jurors' foreign ancestry was more remote. In addition, predictors were identified for the juror's tendency to change verdicts and/or to perceive himself or herself as participating in and influential upon the jury's deliberation. The results speak to the validity of several findings in the prior literature, and the practical utility of scientific juror selection in actual trials is discussed. (Publisher abstract)