lesson 18 - Pre-trial publicity and Jury decision making

Question 1

A01

Answer 1

pre trial publicity is info presented in the media coverage on TV and in newspapers before the trial
this may bias the members of the jury and mean the defendant may not receive a fair trail as they have pre-conceived expectations of the person.
this makes it hard to reach 12 jurors that haven’t been exposed to information regarding the case
juries in criminal cases are instructed to base verdicts on the evidence presented to the court however they cant distinguish between memories of pre trail publicity and memories of courtroom evidence

Question 2

A01

Answer 2

factual PTP –> knowledge of defendants link to case
emotional PTP –> is the emotional response e.g the defendant or victim’s past. this can lead to difficult-to-change perceptions once
formed

Question 3

Para 1 - Supporting evidence

Answer 3

P: Research comes from Steblay et al (1999) who undertook meta analysis of 44 mock jury studies including 5755 participants.
E: the found jurors that were exposed to negative PTP were more likely to judge defendant as guilty
E: the bigger the delay between the PTP and trial, the greater the effect of the negative ones on the guilty verdict

Question 4

Para 1 - Supporting studies (same para)

Answer 4

P: Ruva and LeVasseur did a content analysis of 30 mock trials
E: jurors who were exposed to negative publicity were most likely to discuss trial facts that supported the prosecution and rarely discussed in a manner the supported the defendant.
E: this shows that PTP gives expectations of the defendant which is not reliable evidence gained from the court process

Question 5

Para 1 - Triplet so reverse argument^

Answer 5

P: The credibility of Steblay, Ruva and levasseur can be questioned because they were mock jury trials and lack validity.
E: in real jury, the emotional experience of sentencing someone is in your hands and this is absent in mock trials. along with some mocks having jurors make decisions on their own which is not reflective of a real jury which decides in groups
E: this means the ecological and task validity are low as you can’t apply these findings to real life decision making

Question 6

Para 2 - pre trail competence

Answer 6

P: another pre trial factor that could affect jury decision is the competence to understand technical evidence
E: Foster Lee found that giving instructions and key term definitions to jury before trial increased ability to focus on content and make better sense of the case
E: however, a mock jury trial was used which are usually a lot shorter than the actual trial which can make it difficult to generalise findings

Question 7

Para 3 - other explanations

Answer 7

P: other psych processes involved in the jury decision making that occur during the trial and after
E: during trial there may be an expert witness who is a person whose level of specialized knowledge in a field qualifies them to present their opinion about the facts of the case
E: loftus found an expert testimony lead to more discussion and increased doubts on the defendants guilt, but those with no experts gave guilty verdicts

Question 8

Para 4 - other explanations

Answer 8

P: post trial, social loafing may happen where there is a reduction of individual effort in the collective task for the jurors
E: some ppl are less inclined to review info and input ideas compared to when on individual task. this means they are more susceptible to majority influence or a forepersons opinions
E: suggests reductionist to consider just pre-trial factors in jury decision making