Premium
Deliberation in Six Juries: A Participant Observer Study
Author(s) -
Warren Carol A.B.,
Mauldin Linda
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1980.3.1.157
Subject(s) - jury , deliberation , psychology , social psychology , observer (physics) , competence (human resources) , everyday life , participant observation , context (archaeology) , sociology , law , political science , politics , social science , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
Since the 1930s, jury deliberation has been studied only through questionnaire or interview, or experimental methods. This paper uses a participant observer approach to the study of deliberations in six juries. Juries were found to be concerned both with the issues in the trial and with the intersection of their own and the trial participants' birgraphies. Their deliberations included assessments of the moral character of the criminal participants, the competence of the attorneys and judges, both from within the context of jurors' own life experiences. The imagery of the “good juror,” the interactions with fellow jurors, and the extra‐jury everyday life contingencies brought to the jury room also influenced deliberations.