Diamond, Shari Seidman; Salerno, Jessica M. --- "Empirical analysis of juries in tort cases" [2013] ELECD 1228; in Arlen, H. Jennifer (ed), "Research Handbook on the Economics of Torts" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 414

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Economics of Torts

Editor(s): Arlen, H. Jennifer

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848441187

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: Empirical analysis of juries in tort cases

Author(s): Diamond, Shari Seidman; Salerno, Jessica M.

Number of pages: 23

Abstract/Description:

Throughout its history, the jury has attracted both stiff criticism and unqualified praise, viewed by turns as an incompetent, naïve, and biased decision maker and as an astute repository of folk wisdom and common sense. Here, we examine how the American jury actually behaves in the tort cases that produce the majority of civil jury trials. The evidence shows that juries usually use reasonable strategies to evaluate the conflicting evidence they are given. They are active problem-solvers who typically work to produce defensible verdicts. Nonetheless, juries are occasionally misled by the strategies they rely on to reach decisions. Their decision making processes are also at times undermined by limitations, many of them unnecessary, imposed by the legal system. In this chapter, we discuss the empirical literature relating to jury decisions in tort cases.