Juries in the Americas: Variation and Change
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, 420 East Superior, Chicago, IL 60611 • May 21, 2025
Conference Organizers:
Shari S. Diamond, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law/ABF and Valerie P. Hans, Cornell Law School
Ordinary citizens play a key role as decision-makers in legal systems around the world. Nearly two-thirds of countries include some form of lay participation in their justice systems, and almost one-third have juries composed entirely of laypersons. But the other characteristics of juries and jury systems have varied significantly over time and across nations. Moreover, they continue to change.
Until recently, the United States and Canada have been the primary North American homes for juries in the Americas, but that landscape is undergoing change. While the rate of jury trials has fallen dramatically in recent years in the United States, new jury systems have emerged or are under consideration in South America. At the same time, well-established jury systems in the Americas have been introducing significant reforms, reflecting efforts to bolster jury performance and representativeness.
Juries in the Americas explores these developments, examining how jury systems across the Americas have taken shape and changed over time. This conference analyses the choices made by emerging and well-established jury systems, and the impact of these choices on justice. Speakers will consider how cultural, legal, and historical contexts have influenced these systems, how the jury continues to adapt over time and across nations, and what factors are driving these changes. By taking a cross-national approach, the conference promises to inform and energize ongoing conversations about jury systems in both North and South America, and their role in democratic justice systems.
Attendance in person is by invitation only.
Webinar is open to all. Please register to receive the Zoom link.
Conference Schedule in Rubloff 339
For comprehensive bios, please refer to the Participant Bios beneath the schedule.
8:00 AM CST—Registration, Coffee, and Continental Breakfast
8:30 AM CST—Welcome
Mark C. Suchman, American Bar Foundation
Dean Hari M. Osofsky, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
8:45–10:05 AM CST—Choosing a Jury System
Moderator: Valerie P. Hans
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković, Michigan State University – A World View
Richard Jolly, Southwestern Law School – A View from the US
Aldana Romano, Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales Y Sociales – A View from Argentina
Leonel Gonzalez Postigo, Universidad Alberto Hurtado – A View from Chile
Diego Carmaño, Universidad de la República – A View from Uruguay
10:10–11:30 AM CST—Choosing Jurors
Moderator: Shari S. Diamond
Mary R. Rose, University of Texas at Austin – An Overview of Choices
Marie Sidonie Porterie, Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales – Intentional Diversity and Representation on Juries in Argentina
Jessica Salerno, Arizona State University – Arizona’s Elimination of Peremptory Challenges (a)
Paula Hannaford-Agor, Center for Jury Studies – Arizona’s Elimination of Peremptory Challenges (b)
Nancy Marder, Chicago-Kent College of Law – Canada’s Elimination of Peremptory Challenges
11:35 AM–12:55 PM CST—The Construction of the Jury Trial
Moderator: Shari S. Diamond
Mauricio Alfred Duce Julio, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile – Evidence and the Adversary System in Latin America
Richard Lempert, University of Michigan Law School – Rules of Evidence
Natali Chizik, Asociación Argentina de Juicio por Jurados– Victim Representation in Argentina and Canada
Veronica Michel, John Jay College of Criminal Justice – Victim Representation in Latin America
Lisandra Panzoldo, Panzoldo Advocacia Criminal – The Construction of the Jury Trial in Brazil
1:00–2:00 PM CST—Lunch
2:00–3:10 PM CST—Reaching and Reviewing Verdicts
Moderator: Shari S. Diamond
Gabriela Perissinotto de Almeida, Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Direito de Ribeirão Preto – The Incommunicability Rule: Absence of Deliberation
Rodrigo Faucz, FAE Centro Universitário – Brazil’s Majority Decision Rule and Jury Size
Andrés Harfuch, Universidad de Buenos Aires – Unanimity and Deference to Jury Verdicts
Sam Gross, University of Michigan – Deference to the Jury and Wrongful Convictions
3:10–4:20 PM CST—Beyond the Verdict
Moderator: Valerie P. Hans
John Gastil, Penn State – Effects of Jury Service on Jurors
Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, McGill University – Canadian Rules Forbidding Post-trial Comments by Jurors
Daniel Harawa, NYU School of Law – Jury Secrecy
Juan Ignacio Acquistapace, Universidad de la República, Facultad de derecho – The Potential Re-introduction of Trial by Jury in Uruguay
4:20–4:35 PM CST—Break
4:35–5:20 PM CST—Plenary on the Future
Moderators: Shari S. Diamond and Valerie P. Hans
What questions remain and what data are we missing to address them?
5:30–6:30 PM CST—Reception
ABF Woods Room
420 E. Superior Street, 4th Floor
7:00–9:00 PM CST—Speakers’ Dinner
Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab
60 E. Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Participant Bios
Cosponsored by the ABF and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of The American Bar Foundation.
About Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, a professional graduate school of Northwestern University, is one of the country’s leading law schools. Founded in 1859, the school that would become known as Northwestern Pritzker Law was the first law school established in the city of Chicago. Today, Northwestern Pritzker Law prides itself on its rigorous intellectual environment, highly interdisciplinary faculty, low student-faculty ratio, and diverse and supportive community. Northwestern Pritzker Law graduates are leaders in the profession, from law firms to government, nonprofits to academia, tackling today's pressing legal issues.