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The Verdict
Prometheus Books
December 2007
On Sale: December 18, 2007
428 pages
ISBN: 1591025885
EAN: 9781591025887
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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 brieflycomparing 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.
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