Criminology

The public policy debate on juror reform suggests a great deal of common knowledge is based on anecdotal evidence. There is a corresponding need for empirical evidence to refute or reinforce the reform agenda. To that end, we sought to answer the following questions
Are offender characteristics related to juror verdicts
Are victim characteristics related to juror verdicts
Are case or jury characteristics related to juror verdicts

Description
The sample consisted of 230 Crown cases with jury verdict obtained from the last two years. From the sample, one obtained different data for the different characteristics that is related to juror verdicts. From the sample, the researcher found out the following about the offenders of the cases.

Figure 1. Offender Age.
The figure shows the distribution of the offenders by gender. From the figure, one can see that most of the offenders are juvenile while the least are young adults.

Figure 2. Offender Gender.
The figure shows the distribution of offender by gender. From the figure shows that most of the offenders are male.

Figure 3. Offender Socioeconomic Status.
The figure shows the socioeconomic status of the offenders. From the figure, one can see that most of the offenders are underclass and the least are white collar.

The researcher also obtained several data regarding the victim characteristics from the sample cases.

Figure 4. Victim Age.
Figure 4 shows the distribution of the age of the victim. From the figure, one can see that most of the victims are either juvenile or adult. While, young adult has the least number of victim.

Figure 5. Victim Gender.
Figure 5 shows the distribution of victim gender. From the figure, one can see that most of the victims are female.

Figure 6. Victim Socioeconomic Status.
From the figure, one can see that the distribution of victims is composed of mostly underclass while the distribution is composed the least by working class.
Lastly, the researcher obtained several data regarding the case or jury characteristics from the sample cases.

Figure 7. Jury Proportion.
Figure 7 is about the distribution of jury proportion. From the figure, one can see that in most cases, the proportion of males to females is low. Some have even proportion, while the rest have high proportion of males to females.

Figure 8. Jury Modal Education.
The figure is about the education of most of the jurors. From the figure, one can see that most of the jurors have an education of high school level. While, the least of the jurors have higher degree of education.

Figure 9. Jury Income Level.
From the figure, one can see that most of the jurors have an income level of less than 70 thousand. While the minority of the jurors have greater than 100 thousand income level.

Figure 10. Case Duration.
The figure shows the distribution of case by the duration. From the figure, one can see that most of the cases last between one week and a month. While, only a few of the cases lasts for more than a month.
The researcher has found no missing values that may affect the results of the data analysis.

Methods
The data used for the analysis was obtained from the past two years Crown cases that has a juror verdict. The researcher focused on the data regarding offender, victim and case or jury characteristics. The variables are used to determine their relationship to the juror verdicts on the cases. In order to determine the relationship of several factors to the juror verdicts, the researcher used Chi-Square test of independence. Chi-Square test is a non-parametric test. Non-parametric test are not sensitive to assumptions. However, one must still look for assumptions in order to have a better result. The following are the assumptions of Chi-square test of independence The sample data should be randomly obtained the data should be of nominal or ordinal level of measurement the data should have no more than 20 of expected cell count of less than 5 an there should be no empty cells (Howell, 2008). Among the assumptions stated, the researcher has found that one of the assumptions cannot be tested. The researcher was unable to determine if the sample data is randomly sampled. However, all of the other assumptions of the test were met. The test was conducted at 0.05 significance level. The decision is to reject the null hypothesis that a certain characteristic is independent of the juror verdict when the p-value of the test is less than the significance level. Otherwise, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis.

Results
After conducting Chi-square test of independence, the researcher obtained the following results.
Table 1
Chi-Square Statistic for Offender Characteristic
Offender CharacteristicChi-square Valuep-valueAge0.4790.787Gender0.0330.856Socio Economic Status2.9740.226 From the table, one can see that the p-value for the different offender characteristic (0.787, 0.856 and 0.226) is greater than the stated significance level. Since the p-value obtained is greater than the significance level, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis that the offender characteristics are independent of juror verdicts.

Table 2
Chi-Square Statistic for Victim Characteristic
Victim CharacteristicChi-square Valuep-valueAge15.771 0.001Gender4.2820.039Socio Economic Status1.6990.428 From the table, one can see that the p-value of age and gender characteristic of victim ( 0.001 and 0.039) is less than the stated significance level. Since the p-value obtained is less than the significance level, the researcher rejected the null hypothesis that the age and gender characteristics of victims are independent of juror verdicts. On the other hand, the p-value of socio economic status of victims is equal to 0.428. Since the p-value is greater than the stated significance level, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis that the socio economic status of victims is independent of juror verdicts.

Table 3
Chi-Square Statistic for Case or Jury Characteristic
Case or Jury CharacteristicChi-square Valuep-valueProportion of males on jury4.0440.132Modal education level of jury0.3080.857Modal income level of jury1.8340.4Trial length1.1360.567 From the table, one can see that the p-value for the different case or jury characteristic (0.132, 0.857, 0.4 and 0.567) is greater than the stated significance level. Since the p-value obtained is greater than the significance level, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis that the case or jury characteristics are independent of juror verdicts.

Interpretation
The researcher has found an evidence to support the relationship of age and gender characteristics of victim with juror verdicts. Thus, the researcher concluded that the relationship of age and gender of characteristics of victim is related to juror verdicts. Most of the results of the Chi-square test for independence revealed no evidence to support the relationship between offender, victim and case or jury characteristics. Thus, the researcher concluded that most of the offender, victim and case or jury characteristics are independent of juror verdicts.