Juror Conducts Post-Trial Examination of Societal Ills

Cityscape

After sitting on a jury in a trial involving a double homicide in East Harlem, Efrem Sigel wanted answers. He wanted to know more about the circumstances that led the young people involved to engage in a life of crime and violence.

The killings took place in the courtyard of the East River Houses, a public housing complex located on 1st Avenue between 102nd Street and 105th Street in Manhattan.

Efrem Sigel recounts his experience as a juror in the trial and his subsequent examination of the link between poverty and violence in his book Juror Number 2: The Story of Murder, The Agony of a Neighborhood.