P3 - C.P. - Psychology and the Courtroom (COG) Flashcards
5 facts about UK Juries
- Names randomly chosen from electoral register
- 12 People
- Sworn to secrecy until the case is concluded
- Ages 18-70 can be selected
- Not alowwed to research the case outside of court
(EXTRA LEGAL) Factors that can effect a Jury’s perception of a defendant/witness
- Appearance (Clothing, Glasses, Tatoos)
- Posture
- Dialect
- Gender, Race, Age
- Class
Roles of a Courtroom
- Judge - decides sentence, not jugment
- Barristers
- Defendant
- Witness
- Jury
- Procecution
- Public who are interested in the case
Barrister = A Lawyer with extra training so they can be in Court
Ted Bundy and Attractiveness in Court
- R_ped and killed many women
- Represented himself in Court as he was considered Attractive and Charismatic
- Despite considerable public support, evidence was too damning and he was found Guilty
- Demonstrates the effect of Attractiveness on a Ruling
Other Qualities relating to Attractiveness (some Extra Legal Factors)
- Charisma and Charm
- Confidence
- Speech
- Style
The Halo Effect
DION et al. (1972)
Attractiveness makes people (Jury) assume their Qualities/Actions are also Attractive
The One exception to the Halo Effect
‘White Collar Crime’, as Attractiveness seen as feature of a Manipulative Buisnessman
Race’s influence on the Jury
- Harsher Sentences often for Black People - bias in Judges
- Piliavin - ‘Own Race Bias’
- OJ SImpson - became more about his race than his murder, founf Not Guilty (although he was)
Language and Accent’s effect on the Jury
- RP (Queen’s English) is the best Accent for Court
- Local - mostly Northern Accents - seen as less intelectual by some
Blue and White Collar Crime
Blue - Working Class (Theft, Assalt)
White - Buisness (Fraud atc.)
Studies on Attractiveness in Court
Stewart (1985) - 60 photos of criminals were shown to participants, tended to give less Punishment if rated as more Attractive.
Sigall and Ostrove (1975) - 120 college students read an account of a crime.
* One group read that the crime was Burglary and the other group read the crime was Fraud
* In each condition the defendant was also described as Attractive or Unattractive
* Results showed that when the Attractive defendant was accused of Fraud they were more likely to be punished more harshly. Often percieved as using their beauty as a tool to commit crimes; a misuse of trust.
This research does add to the argument: Attractiveness is an Extra-Legal Factors
DIXON - SUMMARY: The Role of Accent and the Context in Perceptions of Guilt
SUMMARY
199 Psych. Students rated (on 1-5 scale) how guilty a suspect in a recording seemed - diff. accent, race, collar crime type. Brummie, Black, Blue
DIXON - IVs Manipulated
- Accent: RP ot Brummie
- Race: Black and White
- Blue/White Collar Crime
DIXON - Sample
- All white Psychology Students doing it as part of their course at Worcester Uni
- Discounted people from Birmigham due to Bias
- 199 Total (95f, 24m) - Gynocentric
DIXON - Pilot Study
- Tested whether the Brummie and RP Accents sound real
- Raises Validity
DIXON - 3 ‘b’ s
- Brummie/Birmingham
- Black
- Blue Collar
Most likely to be found Guilty of a Crime if you have the 3 ‘b’ s
DIXON - Background
- Previous research has shown that the way people speak can influence others’ perceptions of them.
- A study by Seggie (1983) found that people who spoke with an Australian Accent were more likely to be found guilty for assault while people with a RP (standard) accent were more likely to be judged Guilty for Theft.
- Dixon wanted to investigate the Birmingham (Brummie) accent as this has generally received negative perceptions from others.
DIXON - Aims
- To test if a Brummie-accented suspect would receive a higher rating of guilt than a standard accent.
- To see if race or type of crime would make any difference to the Brummie or standard accent’s guilt rate.
DIXON - Procedure
- Participants listened to a 2min recorded conversation of a police officer interrogating a suspect, based on a real life transcript that took place.
- Officer - 40-year-old w/ Standard Accent, Suspect - 20-year-old.
- IVs:
- Brummie or standard accent
- Blue or white collar crime
- White or Black suspect
- Apart from IVs, rest of the Transcript was Identical across all groups.
- After listening to the tape, participants rated on a 7-point scale how guilty they thought the suspect was.
DIXON - Results
- Participants rated the conversation with the Brummie suspect as significantly more guilty than the standard accent.
- There was an interaction between the variables with the black, Brummie-accented, blue collar crime being rated significantly more guilty than the other conditions.
DIXON - Conclusion
- The study supports the idea that some accents sound guiltier than other accents.
- However Dixon et al. point out that in the real world juries are given far more information and context than the participants were given in this study.
EVALUATION - How to influence Juries
-
Physical Appearance
- Simply asking defendants to dress formally, wearing clothing that covers up tattoos and be neatly groomed is a simple application that could make a difference to Juries’ Verdicts.
-
Penrod and Cutler showed that Witness Confidence is a key factor in court.
- To ensure that a Witness is Confident, Lawyers could familiarise them with the court setting beforehand, explain the procedures on the day and do a practice questioning session with them.
- However, they shouldn’t coach witnesses into how to behave too precisely as this should be seen as unethical to justice.
EVALUATION - Order of Evidence
- When there is a lot of evidence to present, Witness Order: presenting the most important evidence first would be a good way to get the Jury’s attention.
-
Pennington and Hastie (1988) - Jurors were actually more likely to respond to evidence presented in Story Order: the order that it happened in the case.
- Using a mock jury, participants in the study tended to be more persuaded by Story Order than Witness Order. This could be because it allows jurors to more easily create a narrative in their minds.
Pennington and Hastie recommend Lawyers to present in Story Order.
EVALUATION - Expert Witnesses (CUTLET)
-
Cutlet et al. (1989) - used a Mock Trial of 538 students to participate in a trial involving a robbery.
- In this study, however, an Expert Witness was used – a Psychologist who taught the Jurors about Memory and how to spot Good and Bad Witnesses.
- In real cases both the Defence or Prosecution legal teams could draw upon Expert Witnesses to educate the jurors about eye witnesses.
Nature/Nurture
NUR - People are raised in Society with prejudices against Accents, Races, Class etc. - not innate
FreeWill/Determinism
DET - Subconsciously likely to buy into steryotypes and prejudices
FW - Ppl can be educated to be aware of biases and take a more objective view
Reductionist/Holist
RED - Key Research: only takes Extra Legal Factors into account, not evidence, although it does play a significant role
HOL - Extra Legal Factors also taken into consideration - not just diff forms of Evidence, Dixon’s Script had many different combinations of IV levels, and so takes into account each result’s influence on how Guilty the Suspect is Rated
Individual/Situational
- IND - Biases towards an accent or race different between diff individuals (Education can change this), a Jury’s decision can be diff based off Individual experiences
- SIT - Guilt is determined by the details (diff IV levels) present in the recording, a Jury’s decision can be made based off Situational context or information
Usefullness of Research
- Usefull in finding biases towards individuals in Court/to Police, who can be educated on this bias
- Thr study’s lack of generalisability challenges this
- But in the UK - at least - people involved in Determining Guilt should be Educated
Ethical Considerations
- No Physical or Mental Harm
- No Deception
- Consent, Anonimity, Right to Withdraw
- Social Sensitivity
Socially Sensitive
- Could reinforce steryotypes against people from Birmingham/Black people being criminals and being Blue Collar
- Could also be bringing awareness to prejudices people may not realise they have
Scientific
- Highly Standardised - only 3 details changed for IV levels
- Quantifiable
- Pilot Test - made sure accents were deemed Authentic Sounding: high Validity - Falsified to an extent, but SUBJECTIVE
- Manipulation of Variables
- Not Objective
Ethnocentrism
- IS Ethnocentric - All Students of Worcester Uni
- Students from different backgrounds
- Although mostly still in the UK
Validity
- Pilot Study found the accents sounded authentic
- Standardised across diff IV levels
- Demand Characteristics (3 b s)
- Brummie ppl excluded (removing bias)
Reliability
- Very Standardised procedure
*
Sampling Bias
- Psychology Uni Students all from Worcester Uni - Not Generalisable
- (Age, Class etc.)
- All students from Birmingham excluded from the Sample - avoids Bias
- However, those speaking close to PR not excluded
Social, Moral, Cultural, Spiritual Issues
MOR - Judicial cases’ Juries may be biased due to Extra Legal Factors
CUL - May bring attention to Prejudices
Understanding of Individual, Social, Cultural Diversity
IND - Biases in relation to Extra Legal Factors
SOC -
CUL - Extra Legal Factors have influence on a Judgment of Guilt in the Justice system
Contribute to success of Economy and Society?
Improvemens to the Justice System - a very important part of a fair society
