The American Jury

The American Jury by Harry Kalven and Hans Zeisel is a seminal work that surveyed approximately 7,000 jury trials. The study aimed to understand how juries performed by comparing their verdicts to how judges would have decided the same cases.1

The research found that judges and juries agreed on the verdict in about 80% of cases. However, in criminal trials, juries acquitted defendants in 19% of cases where judges would have convicted them. These deviations suggest that juries, while tasked with finding facts, sometimes inject their own sense of justice, considering factors beyond strict legal application, such as the defendant's circumstances or the perceived harshness of the law. The study highlights the jury as a nuanced institution, influenced by various subtle factors.1