Crime: Psychology and the Courtroom Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is stereotyping?
The process of using one piece of information about someone to make assumptions about other characteristics they might have
What are some examples of characteristics of a defendant or witness that may influence a jury?
Appearance, attractiveness, dress, age, race, and accent
Give an overview of Stewart’s research into the influence of a defendant’s attractiveness.
- Looked at real trials from the public gallery
- Defendants were mostly male, of all ages, and a mix of races
- 8 observers given a standard rating form including: physical attractiveness, neatness, cleanliness, quality of dress, and posture
- High inter-rater reliability
- Less attractive, harsher the punishment
What is the Halo Effect?
Making the assumption that if a person displays one good characteristic, then they will have other positive characteristics
What did research into the confidence of witnesses show (Penrod and Cutler)?
- Mock trial
- Evidence from a female eye witness of a robbery with video tape recording
- When confidence went from 100% to 80%, guilty verdicts were given 7% less of the time
- Confidence associated with truthfulness
What is Blue Collar Crime?
Acts that are considered the result of emotional outburst such as burglary, theft, and assault
What is White Collar Crime?
Crimes committed in a business setting and are generally non violent eg. fraud and forgery
What are the strengths of a Mock trial?
- Ethical
- Practical
- High standardised and easily replicated
- Findings can help improve the judicial system
What are the weaknesses of a mock trial?
- Evidence received as a recording which is not how it would be if the person was on a jury
- Shorter than real trials
- Tend to be made up of University students
- No extreme consequences of a decision
- Mock trials have jurors make decisions on their own which is not like real life
What was the aim of Dixon’s research?
To investigate the influence of an English regional accent on attributions of guilt
What was the hypothesis of Dixon’s research?
That a Brummie suspect would elicit stronger attributions of guilt that a RP accent would
What is RP accent?
Received pronunciation - ‘typically British’
What was the sample of Dixon’s research?
- 119 white undergraduate psychology students from the University of Worcester (England)
- More females
- Participants who grew up in Birmingham were excluded
What was the research method of Dixon’s research?
Lab Experiment
What were the IVs of Dixon’s research?
- Accent (Birmingham/RP)
- Race (Black/white)
- Type of crime (Blue collar: armed robbery/white collar: fraud)
What was the DV of Dixon’s research?
Participants’ attribution of guilt and a Speech Evaluation Instrument (SEI)
What was the procedure of Dixon’s research?
- 2 minute recorded transcript
- Middle aged police inspector and a young male suspect
- Guilt was measured from innocent to guilty on a 7 point rating scale
- Speech Evaluation Instrument measured superiority, attractiveness, and dynamism
What were the key findings from Dixon’s research?
- Brummie accent rated as more guilty compared to RP - significant at p<0.05
- Black participants NOT rated significantly more guilty than white
- Blue collar crimes NOT rated significantly more guilty than white collar
- Brummie accent, black, and blue collar together were the most guilty
- Brummie suspect rated lower on superiority on the speech evaluation instrument
- Superiority and attractiveness predicted guilty, but dynamism did NOT
What main conclusion can be drawn from Dixon’s research?
A range of social psychological factors can influence perception of a suspect’s guilt including accent, race, and type of crime
How can physical appearance of a defendant be a practical application?
- Asking them to dress formally, cover tattoos with clothes, and be neatly presented could alter a jury’s verdict
- Could hide physical appearance with a screen
How can eye witness testimonies be a practical application?
- Penrod and Cutler showed that witness confidence is a key factor
- Lawyers could familiarise witnesses with the court setting, explain the proceedings, and do a practice questioning
How could order of evidence be a practical application?
- Witness order is presenting the more important evidence first to get the jury’s attention
- Story order is where evidence is given in event order and is more convincing for a jury
- This could be because it allows them to create their own narrative
How could expert witnesses be a practical application?
- Loftus found that expert testimonies promoted more discussion and appeared to increase doubt of the defendant’s guilt
- Expert witness can be used such as a psychologist to teach jurors how to spot a good and bad witness
