Study finds ‘striking’ difference in conviction rates based on jury pool's racial makeup

 Lawyers Weekly April 25, 2012

Copyright 2012 Dolan Media Newswires 

By Sylvia Hsieh

A study has revealed that the racial makeup of the pool from which juries are selected influences conviction rates – and that having even one African-American member in the pool from which a jury is drawn nearly eliminates the difference. 

The study by researchers at Duke University looked at 700 jury trials in non-capital felony cases in two Florida counties from 2000-2010.

It found that when juries were drawn from all-white jury pools, they convicted black defendants 81 percent of the time and white defendants 66 percent of the time ­– a 15 percent difference.

But when even one member of the pool was black, the convictions rates were almost identical: 71 percent for black defendants and 73 percent for white defendants. Senior author Patrick Bayer called the findings “straightforward and striking. ”

“That’s a 17 percent change based on the random change day-to-day of who is called for jury duty. This is the first strong and convincing evidence that the racial composition of a jury actually has a big effect on outcomes,” said Bayer, chair of Duke’s Economics Department, in a video interview posted online.

About 40 percent of the jury pools studied were all-white; the others had only one or two black members. The eligible jury population in the two counties was less than five percent black.

“Simply put, the luck of the draw on the racial composition of the jury pool has a lot to do with whether someone is convicted and that raises obvious concerns about the fairness of our criminal justice system,” Bayer told Duke Today, a university publication.