Race and the Civil Jury: How Does a Juror's Race Shape the Jury Experience?

Lay participation in justice systems allows a broad range of the citizenry to be involved in legal decisions affecting a country's citizens. The legal systems of many democratic countries incorporate laypersons in some decisionmaking capacity, including lay judges or assessors (Diamond, 1990), mixed courts of law-trained and lay judges (Kutnjak Ivkovich, 1999), and the jury (Vidmar, 1999). Lay participation in the justice system has been justified on a variety of grounds. It is said to improve decision making, to reduce the impact of biased or corrupt judges, to keep the system responsive to changing community values, to better represent the diversity of citizen experiences and perspectives, and to enhance the legitimacy of the overall system in a democracy (Hans & Vidmar, 1986).