The Impact of Jury Pay on Trial Outcomes

• In Event: Crime & Drugs, Student Session

Abstract

Multiple states have passed legislation to increase juror compensation in 2023, in response to concerns that low and middle-class citizens often avoid jury duty because of the lost wages associated with it. This paper will use a differences-in-differences approach to analyze whether better-paid juries have an impact on trial outcomes. Using public court data from counties across the country alongside data from NYU's Jail Data Initiative, the paper will quantify changes in jury representation and acquittal rates. Preliminary reuslts from Harris County, Texas have shown accquital rates in misdemeanor jury trials increase from 47% to 70% following jury pay increases. Similar, but more modest, trends have been observed in felony jury trials. Any significant changes like this would signal that income disparities do exist in the jury selection process, and have a non-trivial effect on the outcome of the trial.

 

Author

• Snehal Lobo, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author