Jury Research in America

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to review the body of social science writings of the last four and one-half decades on the petit jury. The major portion of this presentation will be limited to organizing the findings on the jury around the two major themes - competence and representation - which are most often discussed in empirical literature. A concluding section will offer some evaluative comments and present some tentative proposals for a new perspective on the sociological study of the jury.

Keywords: Jury Research, Petit Jury