What effects does social pressure have on jury decisions?

Societies widespread use of groups could be taken as evidence that in general better decisions might emerge from groups than from individuals acting on their own. In England, juries deliberate in secret and are accountable to no one, so sometimes the verdicts seem irrational. Kalven & Zeisel (1966) defined the liberation hypothesis. This is the theory that all jurors have already made up their decision before they go into deliberation. They then listen to each others …

…such as the participants now that their decision will not have any real consequences. It also seems that the factors that seem to be important in simulations such as race, have no effect on the verdict. This suggests that there may be demand characteristics in these studies, with participants making the decisions they think that the researchers want. This could also be a problem with any of the research backing up theories on jury decisions.