pretrial publicity

Question 1

what is a jury?

Answer 1

• selected at random
• aged 18-75
• not allowed to discuss the trail with anyone else

Question 2

what are mock juries?

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

what are strengths of mock juries?

Answer 3

• applications to real life research variables which could effect JDM
• jurors selected at random = high G
• controlled environment = high internal validity

Question 4

what are weaknesses of mock juries?

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

what is a shadow jury?

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

what are the strengths of shadow jurys?

Answer 6

• real case with real evidence so results have high ecological validity
• not the same psychological stress and pressure so sound ethics

Question 7

what is a weakness of shadow jurys?

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

what is pretrial publicity?

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

what is a gagging order?

Answer 9

• the media are not allowed to report on the trial
• especially used in high profile cases

Question 10

how does PTP link to reconstructive memory?

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

how does rationalisation and confabulation link to PTP?

Answer 11

• rationalisation = jury may change information that doesn’t fit their schemas
• confabulation = jury make up details to fit with schemas

Question 12

what is voir dire used to combat PTP?

Answer 12

• attorneys and or judges question potential jurors about biases that would prevent them from hearing the case fairly

Question 13

why is it difficult to enforce voir dire?

Answer 13

• 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

Question 14

what is judical instruction to help minimise the effect of PTP?

Answer 14

• instructions which emphasise the importance of disregarding previously heard information about the case and relying on information solely from the trial

Question 15

how effective are judical instructions?

Answer 15

• generally just draws attention to the information

Question 16

what is continuance?

Answer 16

• delaying the start of the trial
• hopes that the effects of PTP will decrease as time passes since the last exposure

Question 17

how effective has continuance been found to be?

Answer 17

• decreases the factual PTP but not emotional PTP

Question 18

what did a meta analysis find about continuance and what explains this?

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

what is the supporting study of Steblay?

Answer 19

• looked at 44 studies
• found that jurors exposed to negative PTP were more likely to give a guilty verdict than those not exposed

Question 20

what is the supporting study of honness?

Answer 20

• simulated fraud trial
• found that highly emotional material is more likely to be remembered and affected reasoning against defendant and confidence in guilt

Question 21

what is an issue with task validity?

Answer 21

• dependant variable is often asking mock jurors to give a sentence in years which jurors in real life don’t do

Question 22

what is a positive application?

Answer 22

• identifies bias in juries
• measures may be put in place to limit media exposure

Question 23

what is an issue with self report questionnaires after the trail has ended?

Answer 23

• may be social desirability
• however offer a useful insight to the real trial process