jury decision making: pre trial publicity

Question 1

what is a jury?

Answer 1

• group of 12 people
• randomly selected from the electual register
• aged 18-75
• consider evidence presented during a trial and decide if the defendant is guilty or not guilty

Question 2

why would a juror be disqualified?

Answer 2

• on probation
• imprisoned
• sentenced to community service
• on bail

Question 3

what is a mock jury?

Answer 3

• group of ppts made to consider a case and make judgements about it
• staged trial/ reenactments of a courtroom in which they will stage the trial
• researchers may observe through 1 way mirror
• asked to make judgements about this

Question 4

what are some strengths of using a mock jury?

Answer 4

• standardised procedures- hand out a transcription, no anomalies
• can use a large sample size- hand out same transcription to large amount of people
• 1 way mirror reduces DCs
• can isolate individual factors- e.g. the race of the defendant and test to see if this has an effect

Question 5

what are some weaknesses of using a mock jury?

Answer 5

• lacks mundane realism- artificial, contrived task which lacks the emotional involvement that a real jury does, no consequences
• shortened, in real life it could take weeks and are more complex
• mock jurors may not act the same as a real jury

Question 6

what is a shadow jury?

Answer 6

• group of people hired by a trial consultant to watch trials and report impressions of evidence
• asked to make a verdict
• but no influence over real trial
• will sit in the public gallery
• attorneys will use this feedback in the development of their trial strategies

Question 7

what are some weaknesses of using a shadow jury?

Answer 7

• no influence on final verdict so not same pressure, reduces validity, BUT, high external validity, is a real courtroom
• lacks control over EVs so hard to establish cause and effect
• hard to obtain representative jury so low generalisability
• no consequences so little emotional involvement to ensure accuracy, reducing validity

Question 8

what is pre trial publicity?

Answer 8

• media/other coverage of a case before the trial takes place
• assumed that jury members will have read or heard about a high publicity case
• may cause them to be prejudiced
• anything before the trial, could be about the defendant, the victim
• type of crime matters- if more serious, they will listen to this more

Question 9

what information may PTP include?

Answer 9

• facts about crime
• details of defendant’s past offences
• emotional opinions

Question 10

when may PTP cause jurors to be more conviction prone?

Answer 10

when the publicity is designed to elicit an emotional response (sensationalised)

Question 11

what is a gagging order?

Answer 11

the refrain of disclosing certain information to the public/press

Question 12

how might PTP affect a juror’s decision making in relation to memory?

Answer 12

• gives misinformation that can be incorporated into the trial’s evidence
• juror mixes up information read in media with information in trial due to reconstructive memory
• negative impact on verdict if portrayed negatively

Question 13

what is rationalisation in terms of PTP?

Answer 13

jury forgets information that does not conform to a positive or negative schema

Question 14

what is confabulation in terms of PTP?

Answer 14

jury changes details in order to fit the schema they already have existing from what they have read in the media

Question 15

what is voir dire?

Answer 15

potential jurors are questioned about biases they may hold, by a judge/lawyer to determine suitability

Question 16

what is a weakness of voir dire?
- validity

Answer 16

• attorneys ability to uncover general juror bias is limited
• difficult to identify biased jurors because of self report
• jurors may not recognise factors influencing decision making such as PTP

Question 17

what is judicial instruction?

Answer 17

• instructions to jury about duty to avoid being influenced by PTP
• emphasise importance of disregarding previously heard info about the case and relying solely on information presented in trial

Question 18

what is continuance?

Answer 18

delaying the start of a trial

Question 19

how does continuance act as a remedy for PTP?

Answer 19

• hope that effects of PTP will decrease as time passes
• decreases factual PTP but not emotional

Question 20

what is a weakness of using continuance?

Answer 20

• meta analysis showed that longer delays between PTP and a trial can actually increase PTP effects
• due to sleeper effect where information becomes detached from unreliable memory source making it impossible for jurors to identify whether info came from PTP or trial

Question 21

what is a strength of PTP affecting JDM?
- supporting evidence (thomas)

Answer 21

Thomas
- juries in Nottingham, Worcester, London
- 44% of jurors recalled emphasis of media reports and tended to remember publicity suggesting guilt
- in high profile cases, 20% of jurors who recalled media reports found it hard to put this out of their minds while serving as a juror

Question 22

what is a strength of PTP affecting JDM?
- supporting evidence (steblay)

Answer 22

Steblay et al
- meta analysis
- review effects of PTP on 44 different studies
- jurors exposed to neg PTP more likely to give a guilty verdict

Question 23

what is a weakness of PTP affecting JDM?
- methodology criticism

Answer 23

• DV not measured in valid way
• eg asking ppt to give a sentence is not a normal juror task
• lacks ecological validity

Question 24

what is a weakness of PTP affecting JDM?
- generalisability

Answer 24

• student samples
• cannot represent wider population

Question 25

what is a strength of PTP affecting JDM? - validity

Answer 25

- meta analysis - large samples - for stats analysis

Question 26

what is a strength of PTP affecting JDM? - methodology compliment

Answer 26

- high control over EVs - cause and effect can be established

Question 27

what are some strengths of using a shadow jury?

Answer 27

- real case and evidence so high ecological validity - not same physiological stress so good ethics

Question 28

Describe positive PTP

Answer 28

* positive publicity for the defendant means that it is considered more * positive= socially acceptable description of the victim/defendant * can be a description of them as kind, generous * application- delay trial to allow jurors to forget about the PTP they were exposed to

Question 29

Describe negative PTP

Answer 29

* unacceptable information * more likely to use this about the defendant than the victim * brute, dangerous * more likely to be remembered if negative than positive

Question 30

Describe emotional/emotive PTP

Answer 30

* this can cloud the rational judgement of those on the jury * tends to favour the victim * sensationalised by the media * this is more influential than other types as it makes sense more, jurors understand this more than factual PTP * we are more likely to remember things we understand * if more than one media source is saying this, it makes this more influential as it acts as verification to the jurors

Question 31

Describe factual PTP

Answer 31

* more specific the info available, the more likely to use in JDM * confirms jurors assumptions of their guilt * personal life, previous convictions * supported by Moran and cutler, who found that the more prior knowledge about the case, the more likely they are to return a guilty verdict. * assumes guilt as perceived as a habitual offender * creates prejudicial details and a biased narrative

Question 32

What can be done to reduce PTP

Answer 32

* select jurors not affected by PTP, but Hollin suggests that this is impractical as juries are supposed to representative * voir dire- lawyers can deselect jurors and debias them * voir dire can also be used to decide what evidence can and cannot be presented during the trial, including confessions made to the police * delay the start of the trail- so PTP will decrease since last exposure to media * BUT, sleeper effect- the tendency of unreliable information to become more influential over time as the information becomes rewatched from the unreliable source in memory