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Factors Affecting Jury Decision Making - Coggle Diagram
Factors Affecting Jury Decision Making
Attractiveness
David Abwender and Kenyatta Hough
Attractive Leniency Effect (ALE)
That attractive defendants are favoured more than less attractive defendants
Also whether it depended on the sex of jurors
Experiment
207 ppts
More women than men
Participants were asked to judge the guilt and recommend a sentence
The sentence was for a
fake
case of a drunk driver who killed a pedestrian
Findings
Female participants were more lenient to attractive defendants than non-attractive defendants
Male participants were the opposite, being more lenient towards non-attractive defendants and vice versa
Halo Effect
When a
trait
of a person is used to make an overall
judgement
of their character
Race
Bradbury and Williams
Ethnicity does change the view of the jury
In the
US
, juries composed of more white or hispanic jurors were more likely to convict black defendants, especially for offences such as drug crime
Accent
Dixon et al
Recorded conversation between a male suspect and male policeman was played to 119 ppts
Some ppts listened to the suspect with a Birmingham accent and the others listened to the suspect with a Standard English accent
Ratings of guilt were directed more towards the suspect with the Birmingham accent which means this affects jury decision
Pre-trial Publicity
Nancy Steblay et al
Meta-analysis of 44 studies involving 5,755 ppts in mock-jury trial questionnaires
Negative information was given to an experimental group of ppts and then they were asked whether the defendant was guilty or innocent
Control groups were not given this information
Those exposed to negative pre-trial publicity were significantly more likely to return a guilty verdict than control groups
Pre-trial publicity leads more people to lead to a guilty judgement, especially in certain conditions
The researchers suggested that it creates schemas in the minds of jurors which then become difficult to shift
TV, social media and newspapers may have a negative effect on a juror's decision