American Juries: The Verdict

by Neil Vidmar

Although the right to trial by jury is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, in recent years both criminal and civil juries have been criticized as incompetent, biased, and irresponsible. For example, the O.J. Simpson criminal jury's verdict produced a racial divide in opinions about that trial. And many Americans still hold strong views about the jury that awarded millions of dollars to a woman who spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee on herself. It's said that there are "judicial hellholes" where local juries provide "jackpot justice" in medical malpractice and product liability cases with corporate defendants. Are these claims valid?This monumental and comprehensive volume reviews over fifty years of empirical research on civil and criminal juries and returns a verdict that strongly supports the jury system. Rather than relying on anecdotes, Vidmar and Hans—renowned scholars of the jury system—place the jury system in its historical and contemporary context, giving the stories behind important trials while providing fact-based answers to critical questions. How do juries make decisions and how do their verdicts compare to those of trial judges and technical experts? What roles do jury consultants play in influencing trial outcomes? Can juries understand complex expert testimony? Under which circumstances do capital juries decide to sentence a defendant to die? Are juries biased against doctors and big business? Should juries be allowed to give punitive damages? How do juries respond to the insanity defense? Do jurors ignore the law? Finally, the authors consider various suggestions for improving the way that juries are asked to carry out their duties. After briefly comparing the American jury to its counterparts in other nations, they conclude that our jury system, despite occasional problems, is, on balance, fair and democratic, and should remain an indispensable component of the judicial process for the foreseeable future.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2007

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know the most recent research on American juries and learn it from an accessible and interesting book, this is what you should read. And, Goodreads should have also listed Valerie P. Hans as the author, along with Neil Vidmar. They are the nation's best experts on juries.

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5*

[melina · Rating 5 out of 5]

this fucking slaps for a textbook

[Ruby Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book made me want to do jury duty so bad

[ella fontes · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for social psych class that focused on american juries. a decently interesting read! would be interesting to see what modern research looks like

[Randy Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good historical overview of juries.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neil Vidmar and I wrote this book to give an overview of the history and research on the American jury system. It's an amazing institution, when you think about it! We have plenty of law trained judges -- why would we continue to draw on citizens to decide important criminal and civil cases. The book tries to explain why!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Currently reading as part of research for a prof. at school...but also a personal interest as well.