Jury Size and Jury Verdicts.

The analysis of jury size and jury verdicts in criminal matters now has a long, though interrupted history. Work on this subject in the 18th and 19th centuries by Condorcet and Laplace is discussed and the Poisson model of the 1830s is highlighted. the latter is modified to analyze the American jury experience of the 20th century. Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the 1970s on jury size and jury decision-making have created a resurgence of interest especially on a comparison of six member and twelve member juries. Some comparisons of size in terms of probabilities of errors in verdicts are presented. Author