what happens when a jury can't reach a unanimous decision?

When a jury can’t reach a unanimous decision, the case usually ends in what’s called a hung jury, and the judge will often declare a mistrial rather than forcing a verdict.

Key idea: “Hung jury”

• When jurors are hopelessly split and can’t all agree on “guilty” or “not guilty,” it’s called a hung jury or deadlocked jury.

• In criminal cases in the U.S., verdicts almost always must be unanimous, so even one holdout can prevent a verdict.

What the judge does next

• Judges usually send the jury back to deliberate more, sometimes with special “deadlocked jury” instructions urging them to listen to each other and keep trying, but without giving up honest beliefs.

• If it becomes clear they still can’t agree after reasonable time and effort, the judge declares a mistrial due to a hung jury and dismisses that jury.

What a mistrial means for the case

• A mistrial from a hung jury does not equal acquittal or conviction; legally, the case is reset as if the trial never finished.

• Prosecutors can then choose to:
  • Retry the case with a new jury
  • Offer or renegotiate a plea deal
  • Drop (dismiss) the charges, sometimes after repeated hung juries or weak evidence

Criminal vs. civil trials

• In many civil cases (like money disputes), the jury doesn’t always need to be unanimous; a supermajority (for example, 9 out of 12 jurors) can be enough, depending on the jurisdiction.

• In those civil systems, if even the reduced threshold isn’t met, the result can still be a hung jury and mistrial, with similar options to retry or settle.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.