The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-10
The Psychology of the Jury Room
CHARLES FREDERIC eoss, D.

Few experiences possess the power TO
stir thoughtful mind more profoundly
than sitting through a protracted term
of service on the jury of a criminal
court. Having recently performed this
duty, I propose to discuss the psychol-
ogy of the jury room from a layman' s
point OF view.
What then. are the influences that
ccnspire TO move the various minds Of
these twelve men taken at random from
human society to q unanimous agree
ment Cor a fatal disagreement) with re-
gard to the evidence for or against a
prisoner charged with crime? The most
important is that of temperament. The
first swift glance one casts around af-
fords startling revelation of the va
riety of natural predispositions. The
bull neck and heavy jowl of one; the
sallow complexion and hollow chest of
another; the sunken orbs of the third
the hard boiIed-egg-like eye Of a
fourth; the low brow and retreating
chin OF the fifth; the broad white fore
head and aquilline nose Of the sixth: the
thick. vOluptuous lips 'of the seventh;
the dOme-like skull of the eighth; the
squat, fiat head of the ninth; the fab
bling. generous ears of the tenth; .he
eager and open manner of the eleventh;
the secretive and sullen demeanor of
the twelfth, are indubitable evidences
that these men came into the world alb
solutely and unaltera bly, different from
each other-different in temperament.
disposition, bias spirit.
At the second glance he perceives
that their experiences have differed rs
widely as their temperaments. Three
or four have made failures in life, as ne
knows by their seedy clothing and dirty
finger nails. Four or five look as if
they had at least kept their heads
above water One or two are well
enough dressed TO produce the impress
sion OF having been fairly successful.
All look as if they had been held 10
their tasks in an environment unfavor-
able TO moral training. Some have va
grant eyes; others appear absorbed and
self-centered; one or two seem egotist-
ical and pugnacious. Life has borne
hard on them all: but not with the ef-
feet of making them resemble each
other, like cotton bales or pigs OF iron
They differ like the gargoyles on ca
thedral; like the fishes in an ocean.
The BaIlotIns.
viii they have all been impressed
= like by the testimony OF the witnesses
and the arguments of the lawyers? we
shall see,
The first ballot is cast without dis
cussion aud is therefore trustworthy
revelation Of the effect OF identical inn
pressions upon varying receptive or
gans To your own mind the evidtnce all
pointed one way AMI you have no
shadow OF doubt that the accused is
guilty.
What Is your establishment. then, to
discover that six OF these men are for
ecouittal and six for conviction. This
discovery shakes your faith i'm your
own physical senses, intellectual pro-
cesses and moral Judgments, But this
IS only the beginning Of your amaze
ment for in the discussion which fol-
lows. YOU are violently confronted with
thought currents that seem to have no
more logical order than the movements
Of the clouds. Evidences that were con-
vjncing TO your owr mind had absolute
lv no weight with others. Facts that
seemed momentous 10 them appeared
trivial TO you. Things TO which you
gave breathless attention entirely es-
capped their notice
But IL is in the moral realm rather
than the Intellectual that the tempera-
mental and experieDtiai differences pro-