SPSS analysis

SPSS analysis

Research Question

The public policy debate on juror reform suggests a great deal of common knowledge is based on anecdotal evidence. There is a corresponding need for empirical evidence to refute or reinforce the reform agenda. To that end, we sought to answer the following questions:

Are offender characteristics related to juror verdicts?

Are victim characteristics related to juror verdicts?

Are case or jury characteristics related to juror verdicts?

Description

Verdict is taken as the categorical variable which represents a person being guilty or not [i.e. 1 = Not guilty, 0 = Guilty]. Other variable is the seriousness of the crime which is also defined as a categorical variable i.e. a crime being minor, major or serious [1 = Minor, Major = 2 and 3 = Serious]. Similarly, the other variable used in the study is the relationship of the offender which is categorized as [1 = Intimate, 2 = Unknown and 3 = Known].

Now, three significant variables for the study that determines the characteristic of the victims have been included i.e. victim's age, victim's gender and victim's SES which are categorized as [1 = Juvenile, 2 = Young adult and 3=Adult], [1 = Female, 2 = Male] and [1 = Underclass, 2 = Working class and 3 = White collar] respectively. Similar variables have been taken to determine the characteristics of the offender with the same categorical scaling to have a comparison between the variables.

The variables regarding the characteristics of Juror have also been taken in the study to determine the quality of decisions taken from them. These variables include proportion of males in the court, education level of the Juror, average income of the Juror and the trial length of the case which are scaled as [1 = Low, 2 = Even and 3 = High], [1 = High School, 2 = Degree, 3 = Higher Degree], [1 = <70K, 2 = 70K - 100K and 3 = >100K] and [1 = < 1 week, 2 = 1 week - 1 month and 3 = > 1 month] respectively.

Following is t he descriptive statistics of the variables used in the study with their sub - section percentages:

verdict

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

not guilty

210

84.0

84.0

84.0

guilty

40

16.0

16.0

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

serious

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

minor

96

38.4

38.4

38.4

major

97

38.8

38.8

77.2

serious

57

22.8

22.8

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

premeditation

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

no

164

65.6

65.6

65.6

yes

86

34.4

34.4

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

relationship

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

intimate

144

57.6

57.6

57.6

known

56

22.4

22.4

80.0

unknown

50

20.0

20.0

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

vict.age

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

juvenile

140

56.0

56.0

56.0

young adult

58

23.2

23.2

79.2

adult

52

20.8

20.8

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

vict.gender

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

female

125

50.0

50.0

50.0

male

125

50.0

50.0

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

vict.SES

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

underclass

104

41.6

41.6

41.6

working class

39

15.6

15.6

57.2

white collar

107

42.8

42.8

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

off.age

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

juvenile

72

28.8

28.8

28.8

young adult

112

44.8

44.8

73.6

adult

66

26.4

26.4

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

off.gender

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

female

61

24.4

24.4

24.4

male

189

75.6

75.6

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

off.SES

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

underclass

106

42.4

42.4

42.4

working class

89

35.6

35.6

78.0

white collar

55

22.0

22.0

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

propn.males

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

low

74

29.6

29.6

29.6

even

94

37.6

37.6

67.2

high

82

32.8

32.8

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

education.lvl

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

high school

88

35.2

35.2

35.2

degree

80

32.0

32.0

67.2

higher degree

82

32.8

32.8

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

avg.income

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

<70K

95

38.0

38.0

38.0

70K< <100K

104

41.6

41.6

79.6

>100K

51

20.4

20.4

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

trial.length

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Valid

< 1 wk

81

32.4

32.4

32.4

1 wk< <1 mth

90

36.0

36.0

68.4

> 1 mth

79

31.6

31.6

100.0

Total

250

100.0

100.0

Methods

The research question briefly explains that the study reflects the relationship between the juror verdicts with offender characteristics, victim characteristics and jury characteristics. For this purpose, one of the most important statistical tool i.e. chi - square test analysis has been used. As the variables used in the study are categorical, therefore, this statistical tool has been proffered.

The chi-square () - each statistical test in which the statistic test is the chi-square distribution if the theoretical relationship is genuine. Chi-square test is verifying hypotheses. In other words, the value of the test is evaluated using the chi-square ...