Characteristics of the defendant influencing jury decision-making Flashcards
What are the 3 defendant characteristics that can affect a juror’s decision-making and its refuting arguments?
Attractiveness
Supported by: Saladin et al (1988)
Refuted by: Sigall & Ostrove (1975)
Accent
Supported by: Dixon et al (2002)
Race
Supported by: Duncan (1976)
Challenged by:
Mock jury trials
Group dynamics
Foreperson
How can attraction affect a juror’s decision-making?
Attraction Leniency Hypothesis (ALE) - physically attractive defendants are rated as good people, being kind, strong sociable and successful compared to unattractive people
How does Saladin et al (1988) support attractiveness affecting jury decision-making? (3 points)
Showed participants pictures of 8 men
Participants rated how capable the men were to commit armed robbery and murder
The unattractive men were rated as more likely to commit crimes than the attractive men
How does Sigall & Ostrove (1975) support attractiveness affecting jury decision-making? (4 points)
Showed defendants as a combination of being attractive/unattractive and the crime of fraud/burglary - asked participants how long their prison sentence should be
The longest prison sentence given for the attractive photo was fraud rather than burglary
If attractive people use their looks to con people out of money, the jury will then judge them for their attractive trait
Therefore, being attractive isn’t always a beneficial characteristic
How can accent affect jury decision making?
People possess stereotypes about the person from where they grew up
How does Dixon et al (2002) support accent affecting jurors’ decision-making? (4 points)
Investigated the Birmingham (Brummie) accent
Participants listened to a recorded transcript based on a real case and the suspect’s level of guilt from ‘innocent’ to ‘guilty’ was measured on a 7-point rating scale
The ‘Brummie’ suspect was rated as more guilty compared to the standard English accent
Supports the notion that a schema of an accent can impact jury decisions
How does race affect juror decision-making? (2 points)
The race (ethnicity) of a person raises a heuristic in people
Consequentially, jury decisions and sentences change depending on the ethnic make-up of the defendant and the jury
How does Duncan (1976) support race affecting jurors’ decision-making? (3 points)
Showed a clip (without the sound) of a black man and a white man engaged in an argument
Condition 1 – the black man pushed the white man
Deemed violent by 75% of pps
Condition 2 – the white man pushed the black man
Deemed violent by 17% of pps
How do mock jury trials challenge characteristics of the defendant influencing juror decision-making? (4 points)
Research into defendant characteristics mostly consists of mock jury trials
They are shorter than real trials and lack the heightened emotional experience that real trials provide
Jurors in mock juries are often asked to make decisions on their own - not reflective of a real jury that has numerous discussions leading up to a group decision
This can make it difficult to apply the findings to real-life jury decision-making
How do group dynamics affect jurors’ decision-making? (4 points)
Normative Social Influence - going along with the majority group, even if you don’t agree with them, so you can be liked by them
Asch’s line research:
37% of participants publically agreed with the majority, even though they privately disagreed with the group’s opinion so they could fit in
Informational Social Influence - looking to the majority group for information due to being unsure about how to behave
E.g. happens if a juror loses track of the information presented in the case
How does the foreperson affect juror decision-making? (3 points)
All juries have a foreperson - they present the decision of the jury to the judge and are often perceived as the leader of the jury
A charismatic, consistent and committed foreperson could easily influence a majority
They could coerce the others to follow their own opinion - their prejudices and/or schemata influence everyone else’s
