Do juries act differently depending on the racial makeup of those comprising it? Observationally, yes. I was also interested in looking into the literature to see what studies have been done to add some scientific might to my experience-based perspectives on the topic.

About a decade ago, the social psychologist Samuel Sommers conducted a series of mock trials in which a jury evaluated and debated evidence from a sexual assault case. Some of the juries were entirely white, while other juries were more diverse in their racial makeup. By almost every important metric, the racially mixed juries performed better at their task. They considered more potential interpretations of the evidence, remembered information about the case more accurately and engaged in the deliberation process with more rigor and persistence.

Homogeneous groups, whether they are united by ethnic background, gender or some other commonality like politics, tend to come to decisions more quickly. They settle early on a most-likely scenario and don’t question their assumptions, since everyone at the table seems to agree with the broad outline of the interpretation.

A 2008 study led by professor Katherine Phillips using a similar investigative structure revealed an additional, seemingly counterintuitive finding: While the more diverse groups were better at reaching the truth, they were also far less confident in the decisions they made. They were both more likely to be right and, at the same time, more open to the idea that they might be wrong.  Perhaps after arguing from various points of view until rendering a decision, one or two angles that were ultimately rejected by the group still lingered in their minds due to the healthy debate that previously took place.

I think overall, diverse juries lead to more thoughtful and diligent deliberations compared to juries that are comprised of individual mirror images of everyone else on the panel. Of course, the specific type of case has to factor in when discerning whether a racially diverse jury would deliberate quite differently compared to a jury where members are all akin to one another. A jury made up of members with a similar nature to one another could reach the same conclusion that a more mixed jury would, but the process of arriving at the conclusion (verdict) would likely be richer with the more diversified group.