Jury seems to be inevitable endowment in systems with Common Law tradition. Only there it holds historically unique position. However, United States remain the only Anglo American country to cherish trial by jury nowadays, lauding and raising it to the level of constitutional guarantee.
One of the focal questions concerning trial by jury is whether jury's verdicts can be deemed fair and just. The whole process of adjudication must be impartial should the verdict be fair.
In the light of this question a need for jury studies emerged. Such need was amplified by the fact that jurors, composing a body of decision-making laymen, can be influenced in various ways. Thus, psychological jury study amounts to study of considerations, i.e. influences that are beyond man and his psyche.
In addition, a special regard is placed upon jurors' cognitive processes. To this end, numerous models have been developed to improve penetration of juror's indiviudal psychic processes. The present thesis hastens to provide an overview of such scientific approaches, with the aim to critically address them.
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