The Imagined Juror: How Hypothetical Juries Influence Federal Prosecutors

The Imagined Juror examines the outsized influence of jurors on prosecutorial discretion, despite the decline in jury trials. Anna Offit's ethnographic study of US attorneys reveals that jurors are frequently summoned as make-believe audiences, evaluators of evidence, and decision-makers, shaping trial preparation and the prosecution's decision to move forward. Imagined jurors are a critical but flawed resource for introducing lay perspective into the legal process, and renewed commitment to the jury trial and diverse juries is needed to achieve the democratic promise of the legal system.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 10 July 2022
Publisher: New York University Press

Examines the outsized influence of jurors on prosecutorial discretion
Thanks to television and popular media, the jury is deeply embedded in the American public's imagination of the legal system. For the country's federal prosecutors, however, jurors have become an increasingly rare sight. Today, in fact, less than 2% of their cases will proceed to an actual jury trial. And yet, when federal prosecutors describe their jobs and what the profession means to them, the jury is a central theme.
Anna Offit's The Imagined Juror examines the counterintuitive importance of jurors in federal prosecutors' work at a moment when jury trials are statistically in decline. Drawing on extensive field research among federal prosecutors, the book represents the first ethnographic study of US attorneys, according to legal scholar Annelise Riles. It describes a world of legal practice in which jurors are frequently summoned—as make-believe audiences for proposed arguments, hypothetical evaluators of evidence, and invented decision-makers who would work together to reach a verdict. Even the question of moving forward with a prosecution often hinges on how federal prosecutors assume a jury will react to elements of the case—an exercise where the perspectives of the public are imagined and incorporated into every stage of trial preparation.
Based on these findings, Offit argues that the decreasing number of jury trials at the federal level has not eliminated the influence of the jury but altered it. As imaginary figures, jurors continue to play an important and understudied role in shaping the work and professional identities of federal prosecutors. At the same time, imaginary jurors are not real jurors, and prosecutors at times caricature the public by leaning on stereotypes or pre.

Weight: 306g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479808540