Why Juries Rarely Rule Against Cops
Policing is violent, and juries often give officers benefit of the doubt.
Juries almost always give police the benefit of the doubt when it comes to allegations of misconduct or killing a suspect, according to criminologists and psychologists who study the justice system. That may, in part, explain the decisions made by grand juries in both Staten Island, N.Y., and Ferguson, Mo., to not indict white police officers in the killings of black suspects.
"If it's related to their official duties in handling a street encounter that went bad, juries don't want to deny the officer the benefit of the doubt and are unlikely to convict," said Philip Stinson, professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University who researches cases of police misconduct across the United States. "Policing is violent and everybody recognizes it."
Stinson is principal investigator for a project by the National Institute of Justice entitled "Police Integrity Lost: A Study of Law Enforcement Officers Arrested" that looked at various crimes committed by police officers. The data does not include conviction rates, but Stinson says that incidents committed during work hours (as opposed to ones committed off-duty) nearly always favor the officer.
In contrast, police arrested for crimes using their own weapon are convicted 98 percent of the time, Stinson said.
Jurors also bring strongly-held beliefs to the courtroom, even when presented with evidence that may contradict those beliefs. A recent study by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that pre-trial publicity strongly influenced the decisions of mock jurors in assessing the guilt or innocence of police officers accused of killing an unarmed man.
The study used mock jurors who deliberated the case of several New York police officers who were charged with homicide in the case of Sean Bell, who was killed outside a Queens nightclub by more than 50 rounds.
"You might think evidence would affect their decisions, but at the end of the day, those effects (of pre-trial publicity) were still there," said Steven Penrod, professor of psychology at John Jay.
In fact, recent opinion polls of Staten Island residents taken before the verdict showed only 41 percent of the people questioned favored the indictment of the officer accused of choking Eric Garner to death. In New York City overall, that figure rose to 64 percent.
In the Garner case, the grand jury didn't get to hear from expert witnesses who may have disputed the officers testimony that he did not use a chokehold, which is forbidden by New York City Police Department policy.
"The grand jurors can ask questions, but there are no lawyers to cross examine," said Geoff Alpert, professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina and an expert in police misconduct. "It's always in favor of the prosecution."
While grand jury testimony is kept secret, the judge Thursday released some information about what kind of evidence the jurors reviewed: 50 witnesses, 60 exhibits, four videos and related photos. Bowling Green's Stinson says that most academic studies on juries have focused on trial jurors, not the secret deliberations of a grand jury.
A protest at Times Square in New York on Dec. 3, 2014 after a New York grand jury declined to file criminal charges against a police officer for using an illegal choke hold that contributed to the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man.
Police in riot gear observe protesters on the street near the police station in Ferguson, Mo., on Nov. 23, 2014. Officer Darren Wilson will not face charges, the St Louis County prosecutor said Monday night, in the killing of an unarmed 18-year-old, Michael Brown. The protests in Ferguson are just the most recent in a decades-long history of civil unrest following violence against African Americans. Here we look at notable cases which spurred a nationwide outcry.
In April of 1992, after a jury acquitted four police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King, riots broke out throughout South Central Los Angeles, killing 55 people, injuring another 2,000, and causing more than $1 billion in damage. Above, a member of the National Guard stands near a burning building during the riots.
Rodney King (right) delivered an emotional appeal calling for an end of the rampant violence that gripped Los Angeles.
In 1989, three days of race riots began in Overtown, Miami, when a black man fleeing on a motorcycle was killed by a Hispanic police officer. During the riots, 125 blocks were sealed off.
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In 2009, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, which triggered riots in Oakland. Above, in July 2010, demonstrators in Oakland protested the verdict in Mehserle's trial. He was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
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Trayvon Martin, who was carrying only a bag of Skittles and iced tea, was shot in 2012 after an altercation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who pursued Martin on foot after being told not to by 911 dispatchers. A day after Zimmerman was found not guilty on all charges, protests were held around the United States. Above, a student-organized march at Washington Park in Chicago.
Chicago native Emmett Till, 14, was murdered in 1955 by two white men in Mississippi after he allegedly flirted with the wife of one of the men. Above, Till's mother, Mamie E. Bradley (left), appears at the trial of Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, who were charged with Till's murder. Bryant and Milam were acquitted though they later admitted to committing the crime. Till's mother insisted on a glass-topped casket to show how her son had been brutalized. The murder caused national outrage and helped fuel the civil rights movement. Till's family recently donated the casket to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.