pretrial publicity Flashcards
what is a jury?
- selected at random
- aged 18-75
- not allowed to discuss the trail with anyone else
what are mock juries?
- ppts take place in a staged trail with a re-enactment of the courtroom
- evidence shown for both sides of a case (written scenario or video clip)
- typically lasts around 2 hours
what are strengths of mock juries?
- applications to real life research variables which could effect JDM
- jurors selected at random = high G
- controlled environment = high internal validity
what are weaknesses of mock juries?
- know the case isn’t real so may not act in the same way as there are no stakes invested
- low task validity, shortened trial so lacks mundane realism
what is a shadow jury?
- a group of people hired to watch trials and report impressions of evidence presented
- asked to make a verdict of guilty/not
- attorneys use this to adapt trial strategies
- sit in on a real life trial often in a gallery
what are the strengths of shadow jurys?
- real case with real evidence so results have high ecological validity
- not the same psychological stress and pressure so sound ethics
what is a weakness of shadow jurys?
- they know that they have no influence on the final verdict, lowers validity
- low internal validity as lack of control over extraneous variables e.g. gender and age
- not representative as not a random selection, lowering generalisability
what is pretrial publicity?
- media and other coverage of a case before the trail takes place
- can include factual details or emotional details such as opinions and personal details
what is a gagging order?
- the media are not allowed to report on the trial
- especially used in high profile cases
how does PTP link to reconstructive memory?
- may form schemas which differ depending on whether the defendant is seen in a positive or negative light
- the jury will then mix up information they have read in the media with information from the trial
how does rationalisation and confabulation link to PTP?
- rationalisation = jury may change information that doesn’t fit their schemas
- confabulation = jury make up details to fit with schemas
what is voir dire used to combat PTP?
- attorneys and or judges question potential jurors about biases that would prevent them from hearing the case fairly
why is it difficult to enforce voir dire?
- relies on self report data and jurors may not have the ability to recognise the factors that influence their decision making
- may also be affected by social desirability
what is judical instruction to help minimise the effect of PTP?
- instructions which emphasise the importance of disregarding previously heard information about the case and relying on information solely from the trial
how effective are judical instructions?
- generally just draws attention to the information
what is continuance?
- delaying the start of the trial
- hopes that the effects of PTP will decrease as time passes since the last exposure
how effective has continuance been found to be?
- decreases the factual PTP but not emotional PTP
what did a meta analysis find about continuance and what explains this?
- longer delays between PTP can increase its effects
- sleeper effect = tendency of unreliable information to become more influential over time because it becomes detached from the reliable source
what is the supporting study of Steblay?
- looked at 44 studies
- found that jurors exposed to negative PTP were more likely to give a guilty verdict than those not exposed
what is the supporting study of honness?
- simulated fraud trial
- found that highly emotional material is more likely to be remembered and affected reasoning against defendant and confidence in guilt
what is an issue with task validity?
- dependant variable is often asking mock jurors to give a sentence in years which jurors in real life don’t do
what is a positive application?
- identifies bias in juries
- measures may be put in place to limit media exposure
what is an issue with self report questionnaires after the trail has ended?
- may be social desirability
- however offer a useful insight to the real trial process
