Pre-trial Publicity - JDM

Question 1

pre-trial publicity

Answer 1

information in the media about a case and defendant

Question 2

negative PFP

Answer 2

anti-defendant

Question 3

positive PFP

Answer 3

pro-defendant

Question 4

factual PFP

Answer 4

contains incriminating information about the defendant

Question 5

emotional PFP

Answer 5

contains no explicitly incriminating information, but does contain information likely to arouse negative emotions

Question 6

Thomas (2010) - media coverage and juror’s memory of them

Answer 6

analysed 62 real life cases

jurors remembered media coverage 70% of the time in high profile cases and 11% for low profile cases

in high profile cases, 20% of jurors said they found it difficult to put these reports out of their mind

Question 7

how does PFP create problems in jury decision making, including bias and preventing objectivity

Answer 7

news stories about recent crimes are typically skewed and one sided

often contains prejudicial information which would rarely be allowed during an actual criminal trial - crime can be sensationalised

prevents objectivity as they have pre-formed beliefs about the crime

jurors more likely to mistrust any evidence raised by the defence

most of the evidence presented in the media comes from the police or prosecutors - one sided

Question 8

Ruva (2010) - influence of PTP

Answer 8

content analysis of 30 mock-jury deliberations

to explore whether PTP affects the content of jury deliberations

jurors exposed to the negative PTP were significantly more likely than the non exposed group to discuss ambiguous trial facts in a way that supported the prosecution’s case

also found that PTP exposed jurors were either unwilling or unable to adhere to instructions asking them to dismiss such information from deliberations and rarely corrected jury members who mentioned PTP

Question 9

why aren’t some of the measures used to reduce the impact of PTP effective

Answer 9

individuals lack recognition of the role that these same biases have in shaping their own judgements and inferences

Question 10

methods used to reduce the impact of PTP

Answer 10

to select juries who have not been affected by publicity - e.g. hold the trial in a different location

delay the start of the trial - in the hope that the effects of PTP will decrease as time passes since the last exposure to prejudicial media

consider jurors who have been exposed to both positive and negative pretrial publicity - so have experienced both biasing and debiasing