Week 12 - Law

Question 1

Weapon-focus effect

Answer 1

The tendency for the presence of a weapon to draw attention and impair a witness’s ability to identify the culprit.

Question 2

Own-race identification bias

Answer 2

The tendency for people to be more accurate at recognising members of their own racial group than of other groups

Question 3

Misinformation effect

Answer 3

The tendency for false post-event misinformation to become integrated into people’s memory of an event.

Question 4

Five factors can affect identification performance at this stage (lineups etc.)

Answer 4

line-up construction (should contain at least four to eight innocent people, or ‘foils’, who match the witness’s general description of the culprit)

instructions (baised or not / the suspect is definitely in the lineup)

format (present the same photos to a witness in a sequential line-up (one picture at a time))

familiarity (familiarity-induced biases)

and administration (use double-blind)

Question 5

Polygraph

Answer 5

A mechanical instrument that records physiological arousal from multiple channels; it is often used as a lie-detector test.

Question 6

PEACE

Answer 6

Planning and preparation; Engage and explain; Account; Closure; and Evaluation

Question 7

Voir dire

Answer 7

The pretrial examination of prospective jurors by the judge or opposing lawyers to uncover signs of bias.

Question 8

Challenge for cause

Answer 8

A means by which lawyers can exclude prospective jurors due to a perception that a juror is biased.

Question 9

Peremptory challenge

Answer 9

A means by which lawyers can exclude a limited number of prospective jurors without the judge’s approval.

Question 10

Scientific jury selection

Answer 10

A method of selecting juries through surveys that yield correlations between demographics and trial-relevant attitudes.

Question 11

Leniency bias

Answer 11

The tendency for jury deliberation to produce a tilt towards acquittal.

Question 12

Sentencing disparity

Answer 12

Inconsistency of sentences for the same offence from one judge to another.

Question 13

Adversarial model

Answer 13

A dispute-resolution system in which the prosecution and defence present opposing sides of the story.

Question 14

Inquisitorial model

Answer 14

A dispute-resolution system in which a neutral investigator gathers evidence from both sides and presents the findings in court.