"...a fresh and sophisticated perspective on the American jury trial and a lens through which lawyers should see this institution and set of practices anew. The questions [Chakravarti's] account raises are among the most important in the criminal justice system."

Robert P. Burns | Northwestern Public Law Research Paper

"Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and Public Life marks a continuation of Sonali Chakravarti's careful thinking about institutional responses to social crises and systemic injustice."

Mark Golub | Theory & Event

"Chakravarti argues that juries provide an important site for democratic action by citizens and that their use should be revived. . . Being a juror, she concludes, might guide citizens in how to be thoughtful rule-breakers by changing their relationship to their own perceptions and biases and by making options for collective action salient."

Law and Social Inquiry

“With controversial cases such as the George Zimmerman jury trial and the Ferguson grand jury deliberations still a vivid part of the national dialogue on race and criminal justice, Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and Public Life has pressing practical importance as well as intellectual significance. Chakravarti seeks to renew appreciation for the juridical and democratic values of the jury by showing how something she calls ‘radical enfranchisement’ can develop and guide citizen deliberation during a trial. Her work expands our understanding of civic education, jury deliberation, and civil disobedience and sends an urgently needed message about renewing the jury’s place in the justice system and in American democracy broadly conceived.”

Albert William Dzur, Bowling Green State University