Bias in the Jury Pool? The New Zealand Department of Justice did a study of the

Question

Bias in the Jury Pool? The New Zealand Department of Justice did a study of the composition of juries in court cases. Of interest was whether Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, were adequately represented in jury pools. Here are the results for two districts, Rotorua and Nelson, in New Zealand (similar results were found in all districts):

(a) Compare percents to show that the percent of all Maori in the jury pool in each district is less than the percent of non-Maori in the jury pool.

(b) Combine the data into a single two–way table of outcome (“in jury pool” or “not in jury pool”) by ethnicity (Maori or non-Maori). The original study only reported such an overall rate. Which ethnic group has a higher percent of its people in the jury pool?

(c) Explain from the data, in language that a reporter can understand, how Maori can have a higher percent overall even though non-Maori have higher percents for both districts.

(d) Compute odds ratios for the three 2-way tables and explain.

Rotura Nelson Maori Non-Maori Maori Non-Maori In jury pool79 258 Not in jury 880 23,751 pool Total In jurypool56 Not in jury 1328 32,602 pool Total 8889 24.009 1329 32,658

Explanation / Answer

a) In the state Rotura :

Percent of all Maori in the jury pool = 79/8889 = 0.89%,which is less than the percentage non-Maori in the jury pool = 258/24009 = 1.07%

In the state Nelson:

Percent of all Maori in the jury pool = 1/1329 = 0.08%,which is less than the percentage non-Maori in the jury pool = 56/32658 = 0.17%

Here is the combined table:

which means Non-Maori has higher percent (314/394 = 79.7%) of its people than Maori(20.3%) in jury pool.

c)  

Maori Non-Maori Total In Jury Pool 80 314 394 Not in Jury Pool 10138 56353 66491 Total 10218 56667 66885

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