Factors Affecting Jury Decision Making

Question 1

Pre trial publicity

Answer 1

Social media makes it easy for information to get around quickly
Criminal cases are usually in the media before the case goes to trial meaning the jury nay form an opinion of the case before it begins
May lead to misjudgments as not everything in the media is true
Factual and emotional publicity

Question 2

Stebley

Answer 2

Meta analysis investigation the effects of pre trial publicity on juror verdicts. Jurors exposed to negative pre trial publicity more likely to judge the defendant as guilty compared to those exposed to less negative publicity

Question 3

Race

Answer 3

Different race may influence how jury’s perceive the defendant. There is negative bias towards black defendants and they tend to receive harsher sentences

Question 4

Bradbury and Williams

Answer 4

Black defendants less likely to be convicted if jury has high proportion of black people

Question 5

Attractiveness

Answer 5

Attractive defenders treated more favourably
Halo effect- positive characteristics attributed to attractive individuals

Question 6

Sigall and ostrove

Answer 6

Fraud case ppt gave more attractive defendant a longer sentence

Question 7

Accent

Answer 7

Dixon et al conducted research into the impact of the defendant accent on jury decision making
Birmingham considered most guilty