Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet
icon backReturn to Entries

Citizens' Juries

The term citizens' jury is typically used to describe a process of multi-stakeholder dialogue that involves a small group of people—the ‘jury’—deliberating on a particular set of issues in the light of evidence from invited speakers. Most juries aim at a process of participatory learning and advocacy that empowers both the jurors and, if their perspectives are the discussion, the wider community. As the culmination of their deliberations, juries usually develop a set of recommendations for policymakers and an advocacy strategy. The jury, or associated organizations, may then build political coalitions in an attempt to have the recommendations adopted.

Though diverse in their subject matter and style of delivery, juries have the stated aim of undertaking a fair and competent process of emancipatory action research. Competent juries generally include the following three core elements:

  • Members of the jury are chosen via a selection process that is rigorous and can be easily explained.
  • A facilitator provides support to the jurors in their cross-questioning of speakers who attend jury meetings. These ‘witnesses' are invited in order to provide different perspectives on the topic. The facilitator provides neutral guidance to enable the jurors to collectively produce a summary of their conclusions, typically through a short report.
  • The fairness and democratic rigour of the process is safeguarded by an oversight body made up of a range of people who have relevant knowledge about the subject, an interest in the outcome or both. They take no direct part in facilitating the jury, but they can intervene at any point, potentially requiring elements of the process to be altered.

Early Citizens' Juries

The term citizens' jury was coined in the late 1980s by the Jefferson Center, based in Minnesota in the USA. The centre takes its name from Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the American Declaration of Independence and the country's third president. A supporter of trial by jury, Jefferson famously stated in 1820,

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people. And if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

Although not widely known at the time, a very similar process, the Planungszelle (‘planning cell’) had been developed in Germany in the late 1960s. Both the Planungszelle and the jury contributed to a long-term trend towards supplementing conventional methods of public debate with organized deliberation among what Archon Fung calls ‘mini-publics'.

Juries offer a potentially more empowering approach to the two principal methodologies that are claimed to enhance democratic debate—opinion polls and focus groups. Yet, far from enhancing dialogue, these two dominant approaches allow private corporations and governments to acquire quantitative and qualitative insights into the psychology and behaviours of their target populations. Although they are core features of many present-day democratic societies, neither of the two approaches permits citizens the opportunity to hear or discuss the diverse perspectives that are often pertinent to a particular issue or to enter into an informed dialogue with those who have the power to bring about change. Juries have been designed to provide a more legitimate form of expression of public opinion. In some countries, they have been widely deployed as part of Participatory Action Research initiatives by organizations from civil society in order to empower those whose perspectives are usually ignored by opinion formers and policymakers.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Read next

More like this

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

close

Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches

close
close
close Signed In to profile You are signed in as:
close
Logged in Institution Institution