Permitting Jury Discussions During Trial: Impact of the Arizona Reform
Abstract
In 1995, Arizona adopted comprehensive changes to its jury system. One of the most controversial is Arizona Rule of Civil Procedure 39 allowing Arizona civil jurors to discuss the evidence among themselves during the trial. This article reports the results of a field experiment designed to examine and evaluate this legal reform. We first provide theoretical and legal background about jury trial discussions, laying out the most common arguments for and against the reform. After listing the hypothesized effects, we present the field experiment results of the reform's impact.
This abstract has been taken from the authors' introduction.
This paper has been withdrawn.