Characteristics of the defendant influencing jury decision-making Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the 3 defendant characteristics that can affect a juror’s decision-making and its refuting arguments?

A

Attractiveness
Supported by: Saladin et al (1988)
Refuted by: Sigall & Ostrove (1975)

Accent
Supported by: Dixon et al (2002)

Race
Supported by: Duncan (1976)

Challenged by:
Mock jury trials
Group dynamics
Foreperson

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2
Q

How can attraction affect a juror’s decision-making?

A

Attraction Leniency Hypothesis (ALE) - physically attractive defendants are rated as good people, being kind, strong sociable and successful compared to unattractive people

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3
Q

How does Saladin et al (1988) support attractiveness affecting jury decision-making? (3 points)

A

Showed participants pictures of 8 men

Participants rated how capable the men were to commit armed robbery and murder

The unattractive men were rated as more likely to commit crimes than the attractive men

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4
Q

How does Sigall & Ostrove (1975) support attractiveness affecting jury decision-making? (4 points)

A

Showed defendants as a combination of being attractive/unattractive and the crime of fraud/burglary - asked participants how long their prison sentence should be

The longest prison sentence given for the attractive photo was fraud rather than burglary

If attractive people use their looks to con people out of money, the jury will then judge them for their attractive trait

Therefore, being attractive isn’t always a beneficial characteristic

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5
Q

How can accent affect jury decision making?

A

People possess stereotypes about the person from where they grew up

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6
Q

How does Dixon et al (2002) support accent affecting jurors’ decision-making? (4 points)

A

Investigated the Birmingham (Brummie) accent

Participants listened to a recorded transcript based on a real case and the suspect’s level of guilt from ‘innocent’ to ‘guilty’ was measured on a 7-point rating scale

The ‘Brummie’ suspect was rated as more guilty compared to the standard English accent

Supports the notion that a schema of an accent can impact jury decisions

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7
Q

How does race affect juror decision-making? (2 points)

A

The race (ethnicity) of a person raises a heuristic in people

Consequentially, jury decisions and sentences change depending on the ethnic make-up of the defendant and the jury

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8
Q

How does Duncan (1976) support race affecting jurors’ decision-making? (3 points)

A

Showed a clip (without the sound) of a black man and a white man engaged in an argument

Condition 1 – the black man pushed the white man
Deemed violent by 75% of pps

Condition 2 – the white man pushed the black man
Deemed violent by 17% of pps

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9
Q

How do mock jury trials challenge characteristics of the defendant influencing juror decision-making? (4 points)

A

Research into defendant characteristics mostly consists of mock jury trials

They are shorter than real trials and lack the heightened emotional experience that real trials provide

Jurors in mock juries are often asked to make decisions on their own - not reflective of a real jury that has numerous discussions leading up to a group decision

This can make it difficult to apply the findings to real-life jury decision-making

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10
Q

How do group dynamics affect jurors’ decision-making? (4 points)

A

Normative Social Influence - going along with the majority group, even if you don’t agree with them, so you can be liked by them

Asch’s line research:
37% of participants publically agreed with the majority, even though they privately disagreed with the group’s opinion so they could fit in

Informational Social Influence - looking to the majority group for information due to being unsure about how to behave

E.g. happens if a juror loses track of the information presented in the case

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11
Q

How does the foreperson affect juror decision-making? (3 points)

A

All juries have a foreperson - they present the decision of the jury to the judge and are often perceived as the leader of the jury

A charismatic, consistent and committed foreperson could easily influence a majority

They could coerce the others to follow their own opinion - their prejudices and/or schemata influence everyone else’s

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