Psychological Issues in Civil Trials

Abstract

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Civil juries resolve disputes between individuals or between individuals and commercial entities. Most civil jury trials occur in the United States; a few other countries use civil juries occasionally. Spurred by media attention to large damage awards in prominent cases, commentators have expressed concerns about the ability of laypeople to resolve these disputes. They suggest that civil juries are overly sympathetic to plaintiffs, biased against wealthy defendants, and likely to make unpredictable and unreasonable decisions. Psychologists and other social scientists have examined these suppositions and found that although civil jury trials do involve complicated and technical issues that tax some jurors' abilities and although the applicable laws are sometimes poorly understood, most judges agree with most jury verdicts. Furthermore, reforms in trial procedures can improve jurors' ability to understand the evidence and apply the law, enhancing the likelihood of reasoned and predictable verdicts.