Political Science 1101 - Dr. Raj

Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, and the U.S. Supreme Court have all alleged that jury service promotes democratic civic attitudes and political engagement. The Jury and Democracy is the first book to link jury service and political engagement, demonstrating how this institutionalized form of deliberation can contribute to democratic society not only in the United States but also in the many other countries using or experimenting with juries.The authors look at court and voting records for over thirteen thousand empanelled jurors from across the United States and draw from interviews with thousands more jurors to show that serving on a jury can trigger changes in how citizens view themselves, their peers, and their government. In fact, the study shows that this experience can significantly increase electoral turnout among infrequent voters. Partly as a result of these changing attitudes, jury service also sparks long-term shifts in media use, political action, and community group involvement. The original findings presented in this research advance modern theories of democracy, deliberation, and the law. Whereas Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone brought attention to informal social networks and voluntary associations, The Jury and Democracy demonstrates the importance of institutionalized, state-sponsored deliberative opportunities for citizens to meet and make legally-binding decisions. Legal debates over the proper use of the jury system have failed to account for the hidden civic costs of circumscribing jury service opportunities. The Jury and Democracy suggests how the jury's power might influence newer, deliberative visions of democracy and promote the transition to democracy in more autocratic societies.

In this unique and groundbreaking work, Richard M. Lerner brings his formidable knowledge of developmental systems theory and facts on youth development to analyze the meaning of a thriving civil society and its relationship to the potential of youth for self-actualization and positive development. In the process, he vividly captures the relationship of positive and successful human development to the viability of democratic institutions at a key transition point in U.S. history in the wake of 9/11. Lerner posits that optimal individual development is enabled by a civil society that supports the rights of the individual to develop his or her abilities as best he or she can, and in ways valued by the person, and that in human life, integrated moral and civic identity may emerge prototypically in adolescence, when the person′s self-definition is undergoing significant and singular changes. He explores several key characteristics of positive development (competence, character, confidence, social connections, and compassion) that coalesce to create a young person who is developing successfully towards an "ideal" adulthood, one marked by contributions to self, family, community, and the institutions of civil society. He closes by exploring implications for policies and programs involving the promotion of positive youth and family development that will support the institutions of liberty, social justice, and democracy.

This book argues that the declining nature of traditional forms of civic participation over the last half century are the result of the evolution of larger institutional, social, and historical forces that have favored the self-interest motivation at the expense of civic duty