Jurors and Social Loafing: Factors That Reduce Participation During Jury Deliberations

The American jury system rests on the fundamental assumption that jurors will engage in a thorough analysis of facts and robust debate to ensure that verdicts are reliable. Research demonstrates, however, that this expectation is rarely met. All jurors do not participate equally in deliberations. This may be explained in part by social loafing, or the withdrawal of effort that may occur when an individual works in a group relative to when the individual works alone. Despite evidence that jurors do not participate equally during jury deliberations, an analysis of factors contributing to participation, or the lack thereof, has not been conducted in this context. Thus, in this review the author examines the social loafing literature in the context of jury deliberations and discusses implications and suggestions for preventing jurors from losing motivation to participat