Understanding World Jury Systems Through Social Psychological Research

<p>This volume examines diverse jury systems in nations around the world. These systems are marked by unique features having critical implications for jury selection composition functioning processes and ultimately trial outcomes. These unique features are examined by applying relevant social psychological research models and concepts to the central issues and characteristics of jury systems in those nations using a wide variety of jury procedures. <br><br>Traditionally research that has been conducted on juries has almost exclusively targeted the North-American jury. Psychologically-based research on European Asian and Australian juries has been almost non-existent in the past decade or more. Yet the incidence of jury trials outside of North America has been steadily increasing as more nations (e.g. Japan Spain Russia and Poland) adopt revise or expand their use of juries in their legal system. Accordingly research has been appearing in the scientific literature on new developments in world juries (particularly in Spain Japan and Australia). <br><br>This volume fulfils the dual purpose of understanding the diverse practices in world juries in light of existing social psychological knowledge and applied research on juries in each nation and outlining new research in the context of the issues raised by jury practices beyond those of North America.</p>