Jury Deliberation

Sara Rennard May 19, 2013

Application

Jury Deliberation

Is jury deliberation effective? That depends on whom the person you are asking is. Some may say yes, while others say no. Based on the movie 12 Angry Men, the deliberation was very effective. The jurors took all the evidence in question and questioned it themselves. Making sure that they left no stone unturned. They continued until all jurors agreed on the same verdict.

Since eavesdropping is officially prohibited and efforts by bona fide researchers to videotape deliberations have traditionally been frowned upon, most of what we know about the structure of the deliberation process is either circumstantial or based on out-of-court experiments by behavioral scientists. What we do know for sure is that jurors make choices as they go through the decision-making process. Though for a conviction or an acquittal there is requirement in most jurisdictions of unison, a less than unanimous verdict will typically result in a mistrial. Therefore, the defense will generally profit from a jury composed of people who recognize their power to act as individuals rather than as members of an exclusive group. For this reason, it may be best in jury argument for the defender to treat the jurors in argument as independent individuals rather than as members of a group whose purpose is to arrive at a unanimous verdict.

The typical juror wants to be fair and do justice. Recognizing that behavior is determined by consequences, we often spend time in argument trying to elevate and idealize the jurors, impressing them with the enormity of their role and the value of their service to the effectiveness of the democratic process. But we drop the ball when we fail to give them guidance in how to structure their approach to decision-making. Most jurors need this guidance and assurance. So don't just elevate and inspire them. Help them organize for judging.

In 12 Angry Men, there was one linear juror and one...