Criminological Psychology Flashcards
What is a jury trial?
- use of a jury system consisting of 12 randomly selected members of the public is believed to be democratic, where a defendant can be tried by their peers.
- it is used for more serious types of criminal trial
- The defendant is assumed to be innocent until proven guilty so it’s the prosecution’s job to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, otherwise, the defendant will be acquitted.
What is the jury expected to do?
They are expected to:
- Listen to evidence produced by the prosecution and defence teams
- Weigh arguments from both sides
- Decide (‘beyond a reasonable doubt’) whether the defendant is innocent or not
Their verdict can only be reached by only considering evidence that was presented to the court, nothing else can influence their decision.
What are the realities of juries?
They are impacted by:
- Lack of understanding - of both evidence presented and instructions given
- storytelling = Jurors may be affected to believe whichever side tells a more convincing story of the target event
- Juror decisions may be based on factors other than the evidence provided by the prosecution/defence extra-evidential factors
What social psychological factors may influence juror decision making?
- Stereotypes associated with specific characteristics
- Group membership
What characteristics of the defendant may influence the jury’s decision?
- Attractiveness
- Gender
- Ethnicity
Explain using key terms how the defendants attractiveness can affect the jury.
‘HALO EFFECTS’ mean that attractive defendants tend to be viewed more innocently and leniently by a jury as good looks are typically associated with being a ‘good person’.
‘ATTRACTIVE LENIENCY BIAS’ where attractive people are considered to be nicer people who wouldn’t do bad things
HOWEVER, this doesn’t apply when it seems possible that the defendant has used their good looks to aid them in their criminal activity e.g. fraud
Evidence to support the impact that the defendants attractiveness can have on the jury’s decisions.
Explain the studies.
- Taylor & Butcher (2007) found that, in a scenario where a male defendant was accused of a ‘mugging’ (robbery), that unattractive defendants were more likely to be judged guilty than attractive ones.
- Castellow et al. (1990) found that where a man was accused of sexually harassing a woman, that PPs were twice as likely (83%) to convict the defendant when he was unattractive and the complainant was attractive as when the defendant was attractive and the complainant unattractive (41%).
Explain using key terms how the defendants gender can affect the jury.
Gender can affect the verdict when the defendant involved is female as generally they are either treated extremely leniently of harshly.
benevolent sexism vs double deviance
- BENEVOLENT SEXISM = people see women as incapable of committing some crimes (treated more leniently) because women are meant to be motherly and caring, so they’re assumed to be innocent based on these sexist stereotypes
- DOUBLE DEVIANCE = women are treated harsher in some cases, particularly violent crime, women are essentially punished for subverting these expectations and so blatantly going against how society wants them to behave (gender roles)
Evidence to support the impact that the defendants gender can have on the jury’s decisions.
Explain the studies.
Wiest and Duffy (2013) found that, in real criminal cases, women and men tend to be treated differently, with women more likely to be judged guilty of manslaughter and men of murder. However, the treatment of women depended somewhat on how closely they fit the ‘traditional’ female gender role.
Explain using key terms how the defendants ethnicity can affect the jury.
limited evidence of bias against minority defendants in jury evaluated cases, however, there is evidence of in-group/out-group bias (SIT) affecting the choices made by jurors
verdict reached seems to be based on a combination of the:
ethnicity of defendant
ethnicity of the jurors
ethnicity of the victim
if all 3 are the same ethnicity then there will be little effect on the verdict
HOWEVER
- that jurors favour defendants of their own race
- if the juror and victim are the same race, the defendant will be treated more harshly
How to minimise the effect ethnicity has on jury decisions?
warning the jurors of the bias
Evidence to support the impact that the defendants ethnicity can have on the jury’s decisions.
Explain the studies.
Mitchell et al. (2005) did a meta-analysis of 34 studies of the effect of ethnicity on jury verdicts. They found that jurors of various ethnicities were slightly more likely to judge a defendant guilty if they came from one of their ethnic outgroups. In 16 studies they found that longer sentences were given out to defendants of a different racial group.
What is pre-trial publicity?
information about a criminal case that is known to the jurors before a trial begins. It usually comes from news/media, but can also be things like local gossip about the case. PTP is usually negative about a crime, so it biases a guilty verdict.
What is the issue with pre-trial publicity?
Jurors are expected to base their decisions solely on the evidence provided in the courtroom, but in reality, they can’t separate the evidence from the other knowledge they have surrounding a case.
What makes pre-trial publicity effect worse?
Delaying the trial
Screening jurors
