NCJ Number
93186
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 8 Issue: 1/2 Dated: (June 1984) Pages: 53-79
Date Published
1984
Length
27 pages
Annotation
People who are permitted to serve on juries in capital cases (death-qualified jurors) are more likely to convict a defendant than are people who are excluded from serving on capital juries because of their unwillingness to impose the death penalty (excludable jurors).
Abstract
A sample of 288 subjects classified as death-qualified or excludable under the Witherspoon standard watched a 2 1/2-hour videotape of a simulated homicide trial including the judge's instructions and gave an initial verdict. Death-qualified subjects were significantly more likely than excludable subjects to vote for a guilty verdict, both on the initial ballot and after an hour's deliberation in 12-person juries. Nine juries were composed entirely of death-qualified subjects, while 10 were mixed juries containing from 2 to 4 excludable subjects. On postdeliberation measures, with initial death-penalty attitudes controlled, subjects who have served on the mixed juries were generally more critical of the witnesses, less satisfied with their juries, and better able to remember the evidence than subjects from the uniformly death-qualified juries, suggesting that diversity may improve the vigor, thoroughness, and accuracy of the jury's deliberations. Footnotes, a list of 16 references, and a list of 7 legal cases are supplied. (Author abstract modified)