PTP affecting Jury decision making (JDM)

Question 1

Define “pre-trial publicity” (PTP)

Answer 1

media and other coverage of a case before the trial take place.

the jury will be suspected of reading also Q. how to keep it fair as they already are swayed

Question 2

Define “negative/positive PTP”

Answer 2

negative - anything bad that they did, that makes the person look evil such as past criminal history/ offences

positive - shows the jury that the person isn’t all bad and still have a good moral side to them and that they’re not fully evil such as voluntary work, charity, running a marathon for a good cause

Question 3

Define “factual/emotional PTP”

Answer 3

factual - display to the people of the facts and nothing else either good or bad past actions

emotional - just comments & opinions. mainly descriptions about the defendant and the sensationalizing of the crime or the personalities of these people
*this is really subjective and its main goal is to aim of the criminal’s offences and dramatize as much as possible

Question 4

Strengths of PTP

• in this situation: points that prove PTP do sway the jurrors decisions

Answer 4

• Padwar-singer & barton (1974): gave 1 group newspaper cutting of a criminals record and not the other group. both listened to tapes of trial and have to give a verdict found that 78% that read the past records delivered a guilty verdict compared to the others
• Linz & Penrod (1992) also used newspaper cutting with mock jury = PTP (prior convictions/ sensational reporting) impacted juror decision thus legal questions of whether jurors should know about the prior convictions of the defendant
• Moron & Cutler (1991) defendant accused of distributing weed = PTP

Question 5

Weaknesses of PTP

• in this situation: points that prove PTP don’t sway the jurrors decisions

Answer 5

• some of the ways to reduce JDM isnt as effective such as the judge giving orders to ignore any/all types of PTP and the jurroes believe they have the capability to judge objectivity where in fact they dont.
  Smith & pedrpzza (1975) found that individuals that claimed to render a fair nd impartial verdict and was also exposed to negative PTP were more likely to conivict that those that wasnt exposed

Question 6

Give some ways on to reduce the impact of PTP

Answer 6

a