Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-10T03:57:12.260Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Much Obliged: Volunteering, Normative Activities, and Willingness to Serve on Juries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Marc A. Musick ,
Mary R. Rose ,
Sarah Dury  and
Roger P. Rose
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although compulsory, many people treat jury duty as voluntary. This article examines the conceptual and empirical links between participating in voluntary activity and stated willingness to serve on a jury. We also consider the role of engaging in other normative behaviors. Analysis of 1,304 US citizens in the Survey of Texas Adults showed an initial relationship between volunteering and willingness to serve, net of personal resources, prior jury service, and prosocial attitudes. However, indicators of normative activities (voting, contacting elected officials, keeping up with medical appointments, and avoiding bars) largely eliminated this relationship. People who volunteered some, but not too much, were more willing; an analysis of domains of volunteering showed that engaging in public service work predicted willingness. Results suggest that the public service and duty‐based nature of jury participation should be emphasized to understand willingness to serve and to consider novel ways to increase summons responses.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , Spring 2015 , pp. 433 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The data used in this article were made available (in part) by the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin and by funding provided by the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Neither the collector of the data nor any of these entities bears any responsibility for the analyses and interpretations presented here. We also thank Valerie Hans, and this journal's reviewers and editor, for helpful comments on earlier drafts.

References

American Association for Public Opinion Research. 2004. Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Survey, 3rd ed. Lenexa, KS: AAPOR.Google Scholar
American Bar Association Coalition for Justice. 2001. Roadmaps: A “How to” Series to Help the Community, the Bench, and the Bar Implement Change in the Justice System. Chicago, IL: American Bar Association.Google Scholar
Andolina, Molly, Jenkins, Krista, Zukin, Cliff, and Keeter, Scott. 2003. Habits from Home, Lessons from School: Influences on Youth Civic Engagement. PS: Political Science and Politics 36:275–80.Google Scholar
Belli, Robert F., Traugott, Michael W., and Beckmann, Matthew N. 2001. What Leads to Voting Overreports? Contrasts of Overreporters to Validated Voters and Admitted Nonvoters in the American National Election Studies. Journal of Official Statistics 17:479–98.Google Scholar
Bloeser, Andrew J., McCurley, Carl, and Mondak, Jeffrey J. 2012. Jury Service as Civic Engagement: Determinants of Jury Summons Compliance. American Politics Research 40:179–204.Google Scholar
Boatright, Robert G. 1998. Improving Citizen Response to Jury Summonses. A Report with Recommendations. Chicago, IL: American Judicature Society.Google Scholar
Boatright, Robert G. 2001. Generational and Age‐Based Differences in Attitudes Toward Jury Service. Behavioral Sciences and the Law 19:285–304.Google Scholar
Bowler, Shaun, Esterling, Kevin, and Holmes, Dallas. 2014. GOTJ: Get out the Juror. Political Behavior 36:515–33. doi:10.1007/s11109-013-9244-2.Google Scholar
Burns, Nancy, Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Verba, Sydney. 2001. The Private Roots of Public Action: Gender, Equality and Political Participation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, David E. 2006. Why We Vote: How Schools and Communities Shape Our Civic Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cialdini, Robert B. 2003. Crafting Normative Messages to Protect the Environment. Current Directions in Psychological Science 12:105–09.Google Scholar
Dalton, Russell J. 2008. Citizenship Norms and the Expansion of Political Participation. Political Studies 56:76–98.Google Scholar
Denver, Megan. 2011. The Future of Capital Trials: An Exploration of Procedural Justice, Race, and Willingness to Serve Again. Criminal Justice Review 36:83–100.Google Scholar
Diamond, Shari Seidman. 1993. What Jurors Think: Expectations and Reactions of Citizens Who Serve as Jurors. In Verdict: Assessing the Civil Jury System, ed. Litan, Robert E., 282–305. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute.Google Scholar
Dote, Lillian T. 2006. Citizen Willingness to Serve: Explaining Attitudes Toward Jury Service in Philadelphia. PhD diss., Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar
Eades, Ted M. 2001. Revisiting the Jury System in Texas: A Study of the Jury Pool in Dallas County. Southern Methodist University Law Review 54:1813–26.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Andrew Guthrie. 2013. Why Jury Duty Matters: A Citizen's Guide to Constitutional Action. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Flanagan, Constance A., Bowes, Jennifer M., Jonsson, Britta, Csapo, Beno, and Sheblanova, Elena. 1998. Ties that Bind: Correlates of Adolescents' Civic Commitments in Seven Countries. Journal of Sociological Issues 54:457–75.Google Scholar
Flanagan, Constance A., and Levine, Peter. 2010. Civic Engagement and the Transition to Adulthood. Future of Children 20:159–79.Google Scholar
Gastil, John, and Weiser, Phil J. 2006. Jury Service as an Invitation to Citizenship: Assessing the Civic Value of Institutionalized Deliberation. Policy Studies Journal 34:605–27.Google Scholar
Gerber, Alan S., Green, Donald P., and Larimer, Christopher W. 2008. Social Pressure and Vote Turnout: Evidence from a Large‐Scale Field Experiment. American Political Science Review 102:33–48.Google Scholar
Goddard, Eileen. 1994. Voluntary Work. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Groves, Robert M. 2006. Nonresponse Rates and Nonresponse Bias in Household Surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly 70:646–75.Google Scholar
Hagan, John, Payne, Monique R., and Shedd, Carla. 2005. Race, Ethnicity, Youth and Perceptions of Criminal Injustice. American Sociological Review 70:381–407.Google Scholar
Hall, Michael, Knighton, Tamara, Reed, Paul, Bussiere, Patrick, Macrae, Don, and Bowen, Paddy. 2001. Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians: Highlights from the 1997 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.Google Scholar
Hart, Donald, Donnelly, Thomas M., Youniss, James, and Atkins, Robert. 2007. High School Community Service as a Predictor of Adult Voting and Volunteering. American Educational Research Journal 44:197–219.Google Scholar
Heimer, Carol A., and Lisa, R. Staffen. 1998. For the Sake of the Children: The Social Organization of Responsibility in the Hospital and the Home. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hodgkinson, Virginia A. 2003. Volunteering in Global Perspective. In The Values of Volunteering: A Cross‐Cultural Perspective, ed. Paul, Dekker and Loek, Halman, 35–54. New York: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Hustinx, Lesley. 2008. I Quit, Therefore I Am? Volunteer Turnover and the Politics of Self‐Actualization. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 39:236–55.Google Scholar
Joslyn, Mark R., and Cigler, Alan. 2001. Group Involvement and Democratic Orientations: Social Capital in the Postelection Context. Social Science Quarterly 82:357–68.Google Scholar
King, Nancy J. 1996. Juror Delinquency in Criminal Trials in America: 1796–1996. Michigan Law Review 94:2673–2751.Google Scholar
Knack, Stephen, and Kropf, Martha E. 1998. For Shame! The Effect of Community Cooperative Context on the Probability of Voting. Political Psychology 19:585–99.Google Scholar
Krosnick, Jon A. 1999. Survey Research. Annual Review of Psychology 50:537–67.Google Scholar
Levin, Hillel Y., and John, W. Emerson. 2006. Is There a Bias Against Education in the Jury Selection Process? Connecticut Law Review 38:325–53.Google Scholar
Local Courts Survey. 2007. Interactive Tool for the State of the States Survey: Results by State. http://www.ncsc‐jurystudies.org/State‐of‐the‐States‐Survey/Results‐by‐State.aspx (accessed December 17, 2013).Google Scholar
Losh, Susan Carol, and Boatright, Robert G. 2002. Life‐Cycle Factors, Status, and Civic Engagement: Issues of Age and Attitudes Toward Jury Service. Justice System Journal 23:221–34.Google Scholar
Losh, Susan Carol, Wasserman, Adina W., and Wasserman, Michael A. 2000. “Reluctant Jurors:” What Summons Responses Reveal About Jury Duty Attitudes. Judicature 83:304–11.Google Scholar
Mize, Gregory E., Paula, Hannaford‐Agor, and Waters, Nichole L. 2007. The State‐of‐the‐States Survey of Jury Improvement Efforts: A Compendium Report. Williamsburg, VA: National Center for State Courts.Google Scholar
Musick, Marc A. 2004. Survey of Texas Adults [computer file]. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Musick, Marc A., and Wilson, John. 2008. Volunteers: A Social Profile. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard, and Chapman, Chris. 1998. The Civic Development of 9th‐Through 12th‐Grade Students in the United States: 1996. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.Google Scholar
Omoto, Allen M., Snyder, Mark, and Hackett, Justin D. 2010. Personality and Motivational Antecedents of Activism and Civic Engagement. Journal of Personality 78:1703–34.Google Scholar
Pabst, William R., Munsterman, G. Thomas, and Mount, Chester H. 1976. The Myth of the Unwilling Juror. Judicature 60:38–42.Google Scholar
Pateman, Carole. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Rose, Mary R. 2005. A Dutiful Voice: Justice in the Distribution of Jury Service. Law & Society Review 39:601–34.Google Scholar
Rose, Mary R. 2009. Access to Juries: Some Puzzles Regarding Race and Jury Participation. In Access to Justice (Sociology of Crime Law and Deviance, Volume 12), ed. Sandefur, Rebecca L., 119–44. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group.Google Scholar
Rose, Mary R., and Jeffrey, B. Abramson. 2011. Data, Race, and the Courts: Some Lessons on Empiricism from Jury Representation Cases. Michigan State Law Review 2011:911–63.Google Scholar
Rose, Mary R., Diamond, Shari Seidman, and Musick, Marc A. 2012. Selected to Serve: An Analysis of Lifetime Jury Participation. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 9:33–55.Google Scholar
Rose, Mary R., Ellison, Christopher G., and Seidman Diamond, Shari. 2008. Preferences for Juries Over Judges Across Racial and Ethnic Groups. Social Science Quarterly 89:372–91.Google Scholar
Seltzer, Richard. 1999. The Vanishing Juror: Why Are There Not Enough Available Jurors? Justice System Journal 20:203–18.Google Scholar
Shuman, Daniel W., and Jean, A. Hamilton. 1992. Jury Service—It May Change Your Mind: Perceptions of Fairness of Jurors and Nonjurors. Southern Methodist University Law Review 46:449–79.Google Scholar
Silver, Brian D., Abramson, Paul R., and Anderson, Barbara A. 1986. The Presence of Others and Overreporting of Voting in American National Elections. Public Opinion Quarterly 50:228–39.Google Scholar
Snyder, M., Clary, E. G., and Stukas, A. A. (2000). The Functional Approach to Volunteerism. In Why We Evaluate: Functions of Attitudes, ed. Maio, G. R. and Olson, J. M., 365–93. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Steeh, Charlotte G. 2008. Telephone Surveys. In International Handbook of Survey Methodology, ed. de Leeuw, Edith D., Hox, Joop J., and Dillman, Don, 221–38. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Taylor, Ralph B., Ratcliffe, Jerry H., Dote, Lillian, and Lawton, Brian A. 2007. Roles of Neighborhood Race and Status in the Middle Stages of Juror Selection. Journal of Criminal Justice 35:391–403.Google Scholar
Theiss‐Morse, Elizabeth, and Hibbing, John R. 2005. Citizenship and Civic Engagement. Annual Review of Political Science 8:227–49.Google Scholar
Verba, Sydney, Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Brady, Henry E. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Walters, Robert C., Michael, D. Marin, and Mark, Curriden. 2005. Jury of Our Peers: An Unfulfilled Constitutional Promise. Southern Methodist University Law Review 58:319–55.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, Robert. 1998. Loose Connections: Joining Together in America's Fragmented Communities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Younnis, James, Yates, Miranda, and Su, Yang. 1997. Social Integration: Community Service and Marijuana Use in High School Seniors. Journal of Adolescent Research 12:245–62.Google Scholar