The Imagined Juror - by Anna Offit (Paperback)

About the Book

"If you ask a federal prosecutor to describe an average day at work, chances are you will not hear about a jury trial. Yet when prosecutors talk about how they do their jobs and what their jobs mean to them, jurors seem to be everywhere. It is the figure and role of this 'make-believe' or 'imagined' juror in the professional lives of prosecutors that is the subject of this book. Drawing on an extended ethnographic study of federal prosecutors, it explores this paradoxical feature of the federal legal landscape: though laypeople only infrequently participate in federal trials, make-believe jurors have an outsized presence in the decision-making and professional imagination of some of our most powerful legal actors. In their imagined jurors, prosecutors discover a critical resource for making sense of their ill-defined directives to seek justice and represent the United States. They also find a means of thinking of discussing mercy, acknowledging evolving community mores, and discovering themselves as moral actors rather than line attorneys carrying out supervisors' directives. Even in a period of infrequent jury trials, this book shows, the very existence of the jury system-and the possibility of facing a jury-use their discretion with reference to views of others. At the same time, it highlights the limitation of legal system where jurors are primarily imaginary, calling for reforms that would foster a more inclusive and effective American jury"--

Book Synopsis

Examines the outsized influence of jurors on prosecutorial discretion

Thanks to television and popular media, the jury is deeply embedded in the American public's imagination of the legal system. For the country's federal prosecutors, however, jurors have become an increasingly rare sight. Today, in fact, less than 2% of their cases will proceed to an actual jury trial. And yet, when federal prosecutors describe their jobs and what the profession means to them, the jury is a central theme.

Anna Offit's The Imagined Juror examines the counterintuitive importance of jurors in federal prosecutors' work at a moment when jury trials are statistically in decline. Drawing on extensive field research among federal prosecutors, the book represents "the first ethnographic study of US attorneys," according to legal scholar Annelise Riles. It describes a world of legal practice in which jurors are frequently summoned--as make-believe audiences for proposed arguments, hypothetical evaluators of evidence, and invented decision-makers who would work together to reach a verdict. Even the question of moving forward with a prosecution often hinges on how federal prosecutors assume a jury will react to elements of the case--an exercise where the perspectives of the public are imagined and incorporated into every stage of trial preparation.

Based on these findings, Offit argues that the decreasing number of jury trials at the federal level has not eliminated the influence of the jury but altered it. As imaginary figures, jurors continue to play an important and understudied role in shaping the work and professional identities of federal prosecutors. At the same time, imaginary jurors are not real jurors, and prosecutors at times caricature the public by leaning on stereotypes or preconceived and simplistic ideas about how laypeople think. Imagined jurors, it turns out, are a critical, if flawed, resource for introducing lay perspective into the legal process. As Offit shows, recentering laypeople and achieving the democratic promise of our legal system will require renewed commitment to the jury trial and juries that reflect the diversity of the American public.

Review Quotes

"

Drawing on extensive field research among US federal prosecutors, Offit describes a world in which
even the question of moving forward with a prosecution often hinges on how federal prosecutors
assume a jury will react--an exercise where the perspectives of the public are imagined and incorporated into every stage of trial preparation.

"-- "Law & Social Inquiry"

"Drawing on extensive field research, Offit (law, Southern Methodist Univ.) performs an ethnographic study of US attorneys to reveal an a priori truth about how federal prosecutors use hypothetical juries to navigate the many conflicts they encounter within criminal proceedings...As a criminal defense attorney, this reviewer sees her personal experiences reflected in Offit's writings, authenticating how hypothetical juries influence prosecutors and, ultimately, impact the criminal justice system writ large."--A. A. Walden, Elmira College "CHOICE"

"...an unquestionably valuable contribution to the literature on prosecutors. Offit opens a window into the inner workings of a federal prosecutor's office at a time when interest in prosecutors is at its height. The Imagined Juror answers the important question of what prosecutors do and why."-- "Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books"

"A must-read for anyone concerned about the state of the US justice system. The Imagined Juror makes a compelling case for the continued importance of juries, even in the age of the disappearing trial."--William Garriott, Drake University

"Offit's extraordinary access to the workings of federal prosecutors as well as to public proceedings reveals the pervasive influence of juries on criminal cases, both direct and indirect. This book argues convincingly that the infrequency of trials is not a valid indicator of the impact of the jury on our criminal justice system."--David Engel, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University at Buffalo School of Law

"Provides an original and indispensable vantage point from which to view criminal procedure in the US, with implications for questions of power and the origins of mass incarceration."--Ronald Niezen, author of #HumanRights: The Technologies and Politics of Justice Claims in Practice

About the Author

Anna Offit (Author)
Anna Offit is Assistant Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

Annelise Riles (Foreword by)
Annelise Riles is Executive Director of the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Studies, Associate Provost for Global Affairs, and Professor of Law at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.