Jeffrey is serving on a six-person jury for a personal-injury lawsuit. All six jurors want to award damages to the plaintiff but cannot agree on the amount of the award. The jurors have decided that each of them will suggest an amount that he or she thinks should be awarded; then they will use the mean of these six numbers as the award to recommend to the plaintiff.
a. Jeffrey thinks the plaintiff should receive $20,000, but he thinks the mean of the other five jurors’ recommendations will be about $12,000. He decides to suggest an inflated amount so that the mean for all six jurors is $20,000. What amount would Jeffrey have to suggest?
b. How might this jury revise its procedure to prevent a juror like Jeffrey from having an undue influence on the amount of damages to be awarded to the plaintiff?