Is 12 an Important Number?
An Interdisciplinary Lesson on the Impact of Jury Size upon Juror Diversity
RATIONALE
Many states are experimenting with smaller jury sizes for both criminal and civil cases. There are several reasons why the smaller jury is alarming, but the one that this lesson focuses upon is impact upon diversity. According to a lecture at the CRFC institute:
- 10% of the population is a hypothetical minority.
- In a randomly selected jury of 12
- 0 members of that group will be represented 28% of the time
- 1 member of that group will be represented 38% of the time
- 2 members of that group will be represented 23% of the time
- 3 members of the group will be represented 11% of the time
- In a randomly selected jury of 6
- 0 members will be represented 53% of the time
OBJECTIVES
- Involve students in an interdisciplinary lesson in which they determine statistical probability of minority placement on a jury of twelve as opposed to a jury of six.
- Draw the issue of jury size to student awareness.
- Students will evaluate the impact of reduced jury size.
- Students will speculate/form reasoned judgments upon the impact to justice.
MATERIALS
- Ten grab bags. Supply each bag with 90 white beans and ten red.
- Record sheets-one per group
- An overhead transparency of the record sheet.
- An overhead transparency of the class tally.
INSTRUCTIONS
Step one: Brainstorm
Where does the number twelve come up in our historic sense of perfection?
- Twelve tribes of Israel
- Twelve apostles
- Twelve days of Christmas
- Twelve inches in a foot
- Twelve Olympian gods
- Twelve jurors on a traditional jury
Step two: Direct instruction.
- Twelve is a satisfying number to many trial lawyers and judges because:
- Justice is more probable
- More jurors create more barriers against unfair verdicts
- Group psychology holds that people need support to maintain dissenting views.
- In smaller juries the minority view may be silenced.
- Smaller juries are less diverse.
Step three: Begin random samplings.
Procedure:
- Have one student demonstrate pulling six tokens at random from a bag while another student records the data on the OHP. Ask the students to put the tokens back into the bag. Repeat the procedure and confirm understanding.
- Instruct students to continue sampling and recording to reach a total of ten samples of six and ten samples of twelve.
- Assign groups. Distribute grab bags and record sheets.
- One student should fill out the class tally sheet. Invite the mathematicians to pull out their calculators and speed the process.
- Analyze the data.
Debriefing:
- How might reduced size influence outcomes? Why?
- Is juror diversity important? Why? Why not?
Record Sheet >>
Download the document in MS Word format
