Measuring the Impact of Lay Observers in the Courtroom on Procedural and Cultural Practices

Our research examines the impact of citizen court monitoring on several courtroom variables including judicial process, courtroom actors' behavior, victim and defendant experience and ultimately, case disposition and sentencing. The study contains two parts. First, we experimentally manipulate the visible presence of court monitors (marked by monitors' use of red clipboards (an established identifier in the local context) and assess the effect of the monitors on the indicators listed above. A second inquiry contextualizes the experiment by conducting in-depth interviews with court monitors, program stakeholders, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, victim advocates, victims and defendants.