Method and Ethics in Advancing Jury Research

Abstract

In this article the contemporary problems of the jury and jury research are considered. This is timely, in view of the current Home Office Consultation Paper on the future of, and alternatives to, the jury in serious fraud trials, to which the author has submitted representations on its jury aspects. The research position is dominated by the prohibitions in the Contempt of Court Act 1981. The types of indirect research on jury deliberation which have been achieved within this stricture are outlined. In the USA, direct research of the jury is possible but, for historical reasons, it has been in television documentaries that direct observation of the deliberation process has been achieved. The first issue is discussed and the problems of inauthenticity, ‘the observer effect’, and of existential invalidity in ‘mock’ or ‘shadow’ juries are noted. Finally, the kinds of issues that could be addressed if licensed jury deliberation research was legalized, are proposed. It is also suggested that there are methods available to transcend the problems associated with American direct research.