The Impact of Jury Experience on Perception of the Criminal Prosecution System

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

The present study aims to test the impact of jury experience on citizens’ perceptions of the criminal prosecution system in the communities in which they are embedded. Based on deliberative democratic theory which predicts the beneficial impact of jury experience on citizen-jurors’ confidence and knowledge in law and the criminal justice system, it was hypothesized that jury experience would lead citizens to have favorable impressions of the criminal prosecution system in their communities and that jury experience would have a positive impact on the citizens’ knowledge of criminal prosecution system in their communities. The present study through analyzing the data collected by the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI) in 2005-2006, examined the effect of jury experience (versus no jury experience in the past five years) on impression and knowledge about the criminal prosecution system in the community. The results of this study show that jury experience positively influence citizen-jurors’ impression and perceived level of knowledge of the community criminal prosecution and that these relationships remain significant even after controlling for individual characteristics (i.e. race and gender) and criminal justice experience, supporting an attitudinal and educational impact of jury experience. Potential limitations of the study and policy implications are discussed.

Author

• Jimin Pyo, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The Graduate Center, CUNY