Individual juror judgments cannot substitute for deliberating jury decisions

Evidence

Much of the research on bias in jury decisions has focused on the decisions of individual jurors. Given the difficulty and expense of conducting jury deliberations research, the emphasis on individual juror decisions is understandable, and learning about individual juror decisions does advance our knowledge about how racial bias affects jury verdicts. Furthermore, many studies use as justification the fact that according to studies on jury deliberations, 90 percent of jury verdicts side with the majority in the initial ballot vote (Kalven & Zeisel, 1966). Yet, there are some important reasons to emphasize the study of deliberating juries, rather than individual jurors. Individual juror judgments may not be adequate substitutes for jury decisions, as individual and group decision-making involve fundamentally different processes (Salerno & Diamond, 2010). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 878

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broad research literature relying on individual-level lab measures as proxies for real decision-making — parallels the sincere-conviction-vs-measured-bias gap this reader cares about.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 878