2018/05/01 by Francis X. Flanagan, Francis Flanagan
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Judicial and Constitutional Studies #Jury Decision Making Processes #Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems
paper · doi:10.1086/698193
crossref issued 2018/05/01 · crossref published 2018/05/01 · crossref published-print 2018/05/01 · openalex publication_date 2018/05/01 · crossref created 2018/11/02 · crossref deposited 2018/11/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15 · crossref indexed 2026/07/25
This paper uses data from felony jury trials in North Carolina to show that the race and gender composition of the randomly selected jury pool has a significant effect on the probability of conviction, attorneys adjust peremptory-challenge strategies in accordance, and state peremptory challenges have a positive impact on the conviction rate when the defendant is a black male. Jury pools with higher proportions of white men are more likely to convict black male defendants relative to white male defendants. Jury pools with a higher proportion of black men are more likely to acquit all defendants, especially black men. Attorneys use peremptory challenges strategically in accordance with these results, which are robust to a wide set of controls, including county and judge fixed effects. Each state peremptory challenge is correlated with a 2.4–2.9-percentage-point increase in the conviction rate when the defendant is black.