| This study measured posttraumatic symptoms of jurors who served on criminal trials in an attempt to understand the variables involved in the development of PTSD symptoms. Participants were 201 jurors (127 female) who completed the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale following their jury service. The number of PTSD symptoms endorsed and the symptom severity score on the PDS were the dependent variables. Follow-up collections of the PDS occurred at one month and three months post trial.;Just after the trial, 35% of the sample had symptoms consistent with a PTSD diagnosis. One month post trial, 14% of the 126 who responded to that phase of data collection had symptoms consistent with a PTSD diagnosis, and three months post trial, 27% of the 62 who responded to that phase of data collection had symptoms consistent with a PTSD diagnosis. There were no significant demographic differences between the jurors who responded at each phase, but the jurors who responded to the three month follow up had significantly higher PTSD symptoms just after the trial than the jurors who did not respond to the three month follow up.;Regression analyses were performed on variables related to the jurors and to the trials. The trial variables explained between 36% and 50% of the variance in PTSD symptoms. The juror variables explained between 18% and 24% of the variance in PTSD symptoms.;When individual variables were examined, gender, ethnicity, education, and social support (as measured by the Crisis Support Scale), were predictive of higher levels of PTSD symptoms during at least some phases of the study. Age and prior trauma exposure were not predictive of higher levels of PTSD symptoms.;When trial variables were examined, case type, cases with child victims, cases with deaths, the closer relationships between victim and perpetrator, the interaction between case type and victim/perpetrator relationship, length of trial, length of deliberations, and ability to reach a verdict were all predictive of higher levels of PTSD symptoms during at least some phases of the study.;These findings are discussed in relation to theory, research and practice. |
