Area 4 - forensic Flashcards
what is the summary phrase of area 4
how can juries be persuaded by characteristics of witnesses and defendants
cognitive bias- thinking
facts about the jury
12 members ,18-70 years old, lived in UK for 5 years
electro roll- fixed address - not students
mandatory for all except military, legal profession, clergy(church), mentally ill - can be persponed but can be fined £1000 if not turned up.
characteristics of a witness that can influence a jury - witness confidence research
Penrod and cutler- previous research found weak link between accuracy in accounts and confidence- can be confident but not accurate
independent measures-
IV: female witness who was 80% confident and 100% confident
DV: percentage of guilty verdicts
sample- mock jury (EV), experienced jurors( bring it back to real life situation they’ve been in), not real world because not everyone has been in jury before = mundane realism
found more confident witness is providing evidence to a jury, the more likely the jury is to return guilty verdict
how can children witnesses influence a jury - research
Rozell- lack reliability in testimony which is often a problem when children are the sole witness as they have ability to observe but cannot translate observations so are often ask black and white questions to make sense of what they observed
children also find it difficult to observe in chronological order and recollection of events could be biased from leading questions which is overcome by ‘free report’
how can attractiveness of defendant and victim influence jury- Dion
Dion -halo effect= impression of person influences perception of their character - 60 psychology students found attractive people are more likely to be viewed as having socially desirable personalities so less likely convicted of a crime
how can attractiveness of defendant and victim influence jury- research
Castellow- expanded on dions idea
mock trial, 71 male and female psychology students from US
sexual harassment case - photographs of victims and defendants, categorised on attractiveness on 1-9 scale CV)
found - attractive defendant found guilty 56% of time compared to 76% with unattractive defendant
concluded- appearance can have powerful effect on jurors so advised to make best of appearance
how can attractiveness of the defendant and type of crime influence a jury - research
signal and ostove-
120 undergraduate - 6 groups- 10males, females
IV1: case with attractive female and unattractive female, no photos
IV2: crime was burglary or fraud
6 conditions - attractive/ unattractive/no photo - for both types of crime
good looking defendants more likely to get away with crime like burglary but for fraud it had opposite effect as jury thinks they used looks to get away with it
how can ethnicity of defendant influence jury
maeder- sexual assault trials
defendant white and attractive- more likely to be responsible for assault but reversed for black victims
what is the first aim of Dixon
To investigate if suspect with Brummie accent would receive a higher rating of guilt than suspect with standard accent
what is the second aim of Dixon
To see whether race or type of crime would have effect on how suspect using brummies’ or standard accent was judged
what is the sample of Dixon
119, white undergraduate psychology debt at university college, Worchester
ppts who grew up in Birmingham were excluded (ppt variables)
what is the method Dixon and 3 IVS
lab experiment with 3 IVS
1- brummies’ or standard accent
2-black or white
3- blue collar (burglary) white collar (fraud)
what is the DV of Dixon and ways of measuring it
attributions of guilt - measured by 7 point scale (innocent-guilty)
SEI- speech evaluation instrument- language attitudes
what is the procedure of Dixon
2 min recording of mock interview between a standard accent student who was the inspector and suspect who ‘ code switched’ between brummies’ and standard English
one tape was white collar crime and one was blue collar crime
race was described by inspector
what did participants do after recording in relation to DV
1- suspect rated guilt on 7 point scale
2- rated suspects language attitudes on three dimension. superiority, attractiveness, dynamism
what are the results of accent type
brummie accent was rated higher for guilt than standard accent
what are results of race
no difference in ratings of guilt for black participant or white participants
what is the result of crime
blue collar crime not rated more guilty than white collar
what is the result of SEI
brummie accent rated lower in superiority than standard
superiority and attractiveness predicted guilt but not dynamism
what is the result of interactions between IV’S
participants in black/brummie/blue collar crime conditions received higher guilt rating
what are some suggestions from results
defendants need to be as standard as possible and train jury about accent bias
what is order of the court case
inducement- charge read
defendants plea- guilty/not guilty
prosecution opening statement
defence opening statement (prosecution not done job)
evidence from witness
prosecution closing statement
defence closing statement
judges instructions on procedures and verdicts
how does presenting evidence in story order effect jurors and evidence
Pennington and Hastie - proposed story order model of presenting evidence
timeline is often better for memory recall- chronological order
jurors actively make own story based on knowledge of events given in trials
if lawyers create clear time line it is likely to return verdict in favour of lawyer
how do lawyers get order of events from witness
sit down with them and get them to recall the event in order
