Do Peremptory Challenges Increase Bias on Juries?

Wake Forest University, Winston Salem NC

Investigators

Abstract

Criminal defendants hold the right to a trial by an impartial jury that represents a fair cross-section of the community. Prosecutors and defense lawyers usually help determine the jury by using a fixed number of "peremptory" challenges to remove jurors they believe to be unsympathetic. The present study will be the first to test empirically the common assumption that peremptory challenges increase the impartiality of juries. This study will also expand the scope of the limited empirical research on discrimination in jury selection, and provide a novel data set for use in future analysis. Researchers will collect court data from Minnesota about the demographics of all jurors summoned over a multi-year period, as well as details about juror selection and trial verdicts, and combine these with data already gathered from North Carolina. The purpose of the study is to examine (i) if there are distinct patterns in peremptory challenge use for prosecutors and defense attorneys, (ii) how peremptory challenges affect the composition of impaneled juries, (iii) how any effect on composition influences verdicts, and (iv) how results compare to previously collected, parallel data from North Carolina. Data will be collected on site in Minnesota district courts, and through remote access to court files.