Confused Jurors Might Tend to Favor Executions, Study Says

Jurors deciding whether to sentence a defendant to death often misunderstand the judge’s instructions and may be biased in favor of executions even before deliberating, a study said Friday.

“This study raises important questions about juror decision-making in capital cases, such as whether jurors decide on the defendant’s punishment before they even reach the sentencing phase of the trial,” said Joseph Hoffmann, a law professor at the University of Indiana.

The study, perhaps the most comprehensive ever done on the subject, was based on a survey of hundreds of jurors in 14 states where the law requires a trial to determine guilt followed by a hearing to determine punishment.

The initial results of the survey were presented at the National Conference on Juries and the Death Penalty being held here.

Hoffmann said the study raises questions about whether jurors adequately understand the judge’s instructions and whether they feel personally responsible for their sentencing decision.

“It’s too early to say whether the law should be changed in response to this study, but it does highlight areas of major concern,” he added.

In seven of the states studied, an analysis of more than 500 juror responses found that half had already formed an opinion about the defendant’s fate before the sentencing hearing began.

Forty-two percent of those same jurors also thought the death sentence was required if the crime was “heinous, vile or depraved,” and 32% thought that they had to impose it if the defendant would be dangerous in the future.

“These numbers are quite troubling because the law in fact never requires a death sentence based on these factors alone,” Hoffmann said.

William Bowers of Northeastern University’s College of Criminal Justice said “this misunderstanding of statutory standards obviously biases the sentencing decision in favor of death.”

The study, which involved people who served on juries since the Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, was conducted in California, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.