Dealing with Death-Apprehensive Jurors: Gender-Specific Forms of Pressure and Dissent

• In Event: Deliberating Death: Inside the Capital Jury Box

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to shed light on the role of gender in capital juror and jury decision-making. To do so, this project draws from the narrative accounts of former capital jurors. This project employs a qualitative methodological approach using in-depth interview data collected as part of the Capital Jury Project (CJP). The analysis reveals that male and female jurors experience deliberations differently in a number of ways though this presentation focuses on one particular disparity: the gender-specific forms of pressure and dissent among jurors who (attempt to) holdout for a sentence of life without parole (LWOP) against a pro-death majority. Put succinctly, female jurors who find themselves in this position face more intense and concerted pressure than male jurors so-situated, and respond to that pressure in unique ways. These specific techniques are outlined in turn, as are instances that complicate or contradict the predominant trends of the analysis.

Author

• Heather Pruss, Bellarmine University