Jury Deliberation and Civic Engagement

陪审团审议和公民参与

• 批准号: 0318513
• 负责人: John Gastil
• 金额: $ 17.65万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-01 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0318513&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Jury; Deliberation; Civic; Engagement

A basic assumption of participatory democratic theory holds that civic engagement boosts an individual's political efficacy and increases future political participation. Though this empirical claim is important to political philosophy, public deliberation, civic engagement, and constitutional law, it has not been tested directly. To overcome the limitations of past research, this project tests the participation hypothesis in relation to the impact jury service has on electoral participation. The jury provides an ideal test because it is a non-voluntary, institutionalized form of public service to which a broad cross-section of the public is exposed. It is hypothesized that individuals who serve on juries and reach verdicts become more likely to vote and engage in other forms of civic activity than do those jurors who have inconclusive experiences. It is also predicted that this relationship is mediated by an increase in political efficacy and moderated by other aspects of the jury experience, including the nature of the trial, jury size, and decision rule. This project undertakes an in-depth examination of the experience of 2,000 jurors in a single jurisdiction. This test employs a panel survey design to test the hypothesized links in the theoretical model. Participants are interviewed at three points in time: when they enter the jury pool, shortly after they serve as jurors, then long after completing their service. This permits baseline measurement of demographics, attitudes and behaviors, self-report data on the experience of jury deliberation, short-term changes in political efficacy and other attitudes, and long-term changes in both efficacy and political behaviors beyond electoral participation. In designing this survey, as well as other activities, the project is assisted by an advisory panel consisting of preeminent jury researchers and civic engagement scholars. The most far-reaching potential impact of this research is on the degree to which underrepresented groups are included in the legal and political process. Unequal representation in juries may be among the underlying causes of unequal registration and turnout across different social groups, and the study could highlight the importance of enacting legal reforms to make the jury pool and seated juries more representative. By revealing the civic impact of jury service, research could also strengthen the case for maintaining the vitality of the jury as a basic public institution.

参与式民主理论的一个基本假设认为，公民参与可以提高个人的政治效能并增加未来的政治参与。尽管这一实证主张对于政治哲学、公共审议、公民参与和宪法很重要，但它尚未得到直接检验。为了克服过去研究的局限性，本项目测试了陪审团服务对选举参与影响的参与假设。陪审团提供了一个理想的测试，因为它是一种非自愿的、制度化的公共服务形式，广泛的公众都接触到它。据推测，与那些拥有不确定经验的陪审员相比，担任陪审团成员并做出裁决的个人更有可能投票并参与其他形式的公民活动。据预测，这种关系会受到政治效能提高的调节，并受到陪审团经验的其他方面的调节，包括审判的性质、陪审团规模和决策规则。该项目对单个司法管辖区 2,000 名陪审员的经验进行了深入审查。该测试采用面板调查设计来测试理论模型中假设的联系。参与者在三个时间点接受采访：进入陪审团时、担任陪审员后不久、以及完成服务后不久。这允许对人口统计、态度和行为进行基线测量，关于陪审团审议经验的自我报告数据，政治效能和其他态度的短期变化，以及选举参与之外的效能和政治行为的长期变化。在设计这项调查以及其他活动时，该项目得到了由杰出陪审团研究人员和公民参与学者组成的咨询小组的协助。这项研究最深远的潜在影响在于代表性不足的群体被纳入法律和政治进程的程度。陪审团中的代表性不平等可能是不同社会群体登记和投票率不平等的根本原因之一，该研究可以强调制定法律改革以使陪审团成员和陪审团更具代表性的重要性。通过揭示陪审团服务对公民的影响，研究还可以加强维持陪审团作为基本公共机构活力的理由。