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Jury Size and Composition: An Economic Approach

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The Economics of Public Services
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Abstract

The facilities and processes that governments provide for resolving legal disputes constitute an important public service. For the resolution of some of these disputes, society turns to a body of laymen—a jury. In considering the fury as a conflict-resolving instrument, several interrelated questions arise concerning the jury’s size, the way its members are selected, and the voting rule that it uses in reaching its decision. This paper presents a theoretical structure to help address these questions. The model, which uses a statistical decision-theoretic framework, is then used to examine the specific issue of how ‘representative’ a jury should be.

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© 1977 International Economic Association

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Klevorick, A.K. (1977). Jury Size and Composition: An Economic Approach. In: Feldstein, M.S., Inman, R.P. (eds) The Economics of Public Services. International Economic Association Conference Volumes. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02917-4_5

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