Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

No 646: A Jury of Her Peers: The Impact of the First Female Jurors on Criminal Convictions

Shamena Anwar, Patrick Bayer and Randi Hjalmarsson ()
Additional contact information
Shamena Anwar: RAND Corporation
Patrick Bayer: Duke University and NBER
Randi Hjalmarsson: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O. Box 640, SE 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract: This paper uses an original data set of more than 3000 cases from 1918 to 1926 in the Central Criminal Courts of London to study the effect of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919. Implemented in 1921, this Act made females eligible to serve on English juries, providing a novel setting for studying the impact of female representation on jury verdicts. Results based on a pre-post research design imply that the inclusion of females had little effect on overall conviction rates but resulted in a large and significant increase in convictions for sex offenses and on the conviction rate differential between violent crime cases with female versus male victims. The inclusion of women also increased the likelihood of juries being discharged without reaching a verdict on all charges and the average time taken to reach a verdict. A complementary analysis of cases in which the jury was carried over from a previous trial also implies that the inclusion of female jurors on the seated jury sharply increased conviction rates for violent crimes against women versus men.

Keywords: jury; gender; crime; convictions; deliberations; verdict; female; court; historical; victim

JEL-codes: J10; K14; K40; N00

49 pages, February 2016

Full text files

41910 HTML file 

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Jessica Oscarsson ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0646This page generated on 2024-10-31 13:22:59.