Jury Decision Making Flashcards
who does a Jury consist of
12 members selected randomly from the electoral register
no qualifications are required
peremptory challenges
objections may be made to a limited number of potential jurors
allow attorneys for each side to question potential jurors - can ask about personal experiences and beliefs
attorneys are allowed to eliminate as many potential jurors as they like as long as they give a reason for their decision
what type of jurors are lawyers likely to select and why
jurors who will be sympathetic to their client
Fulero and penrod (1990) - engineering type likely to be unemotional, athletes lacking in sympathy for their victims and butchers very unlikely to be shocked by violent crime
what is the job of the jury
to weigh up the evidence predented to them and decide the guilt or innocence of the defendant
how do judges reach their decision
offer an individual and unprofessional view based on legal experience and decisions are based on their own general knowledge and life experience
Kalven and Zeisel (1966) - compared jury verdicts with trial judge’s view
agreement in 78% of cases
in the 3576 criminal cases studied
what are the two strategies used to investigate jurors
mock juries
shadow juries
mock jury
re-enactments of a courtroom in which participants will take part in a staged trial
shadow jury
will sit in (usually in the public gallery) on a real-life trial and make their decisions based on what they see
taken into a room and deliberations are recorded to see how they reached their final verdict
strengths of using a shadow jury
ethical way to test JDM
high external validity due to mundane realism
weaknesses of using a shadow jury
practical issue - difficult to obtain sample as it is unknown how long the trial will last, which creates a biased sample mainly comprised of students
no consequences, so no responsibility or pressure
lack of control over variables, so it is harder to establish cause and effect
practical issue - have to wait for a trial that fits description for the study
practical issue - need space in the public gallery, which may lead to a small sample
strengths of mock juries
can create massive sample sizes
allows investigation of variables such as appearance, age and race
control allows for cause and effect
weaknesses of mock juries
scenarios are brief and lack complexities of real life
lack external validity as a real trial is not occuring
there are no consequences for the decision, and it will not impact anyone’s life, so the ppts may not take it as seriously
