SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF 

 JURORS AND JURIES. 



By PATTERSON DuBOIS. 

 (Read April 23, 1914.) 



Interpretation is the crux of science and the chief point of fail- 

 ure in scientific men. When concerned with human behavior it 

 reaches the most subtle nicety — a kind of nicety, indeed, which pro- 

 jects far beyond the helping hand of instruments of precision or 

 mathematical formulae. Human interpretation is the pivot of human 

 intercourse. 



Under the prescriptions of our common jurisprudence the verdict 

 of a court jury is mainly a resultant of many subconscious forces 

 and unseen influences. Standing obviously to reason, this needs no 

 demonstration. Comparatively little of " the evidence " admitted 

 by the court during the trial and little of the pleading operates di- 

 rectly upon the mind of the jury — even though, paradoxically, with- 

 out these there could be no trial. 



It is no part of this paper to attempt the impossible task of un- 

 ravelling the real or probable complex of past experiences, prej- 

 udices, emotions, misunderstandings or logical balances of judg- 

 ment affecting the minds of the jurors. 



Chiefly, it is limited to the proposition that, so far as the juror 

 is concerned, court discipline tends to diminish rather than to increase, 

 and to hamper rather than to facilitate his efficiency as an agency of 

 justice. In other words, the conscientious juryman of good aver- 

 age equipment goes handicapped to his task largely because he is 

 in subjection to an iron rule which takes no note of his individuality 

 of fitness or unfitness, distress or ease, or of other personal and court 

 conditions which themselves condition his judiciality. The problem 

 is largely one of attitudes — a comparatively neglected field in pure 

 or applied psychology. 



The court takes cognizance of certain classes of influences likely 



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