Week 10 - Juror Decision Making Flashcards
Why study juror/jury decision makers?
- finders of fact
- conscience of community
- lay people making important/complex decisions
- controversial decisions
What are a couple of questionable calls with jury decisions?
- Mcdonalds, hot coffee, sue for $2.9 million for spilling on themselves
- man jumping over net, became paralysed, tried to sue for $18 million
- OJ Simpson
What are some challenges we face when trying to establish the ‘goodness’ of jurors?
- establishing ground truth
- when is not ‘not guilty’ the right verdict?
What are one way to see if jurors have reached a good verdict?
What have we found from this?
- compare with judges to see if consistent
- we’ve found that guilty verdicts are fairly consistent. When jurors voted not guilty, often the judge would have voted guilty.
Why would we look at the individual when evaluating jurors?
- isolating basic cognitive processes (avoid interactions between variables and individuals)
- logistic/methodological concerns (time, space, statistical power)
- individual juror verdict best predictor of jury verdict (in about 90% of cases)
What can post event questionnaires tell us about jury’s? (non experimental methodologies)
- influence of deliberation/social variables
- memory/social desirability/self report issues
What is a problem to do with post event questionnaires tell us about jury’s? (non experimental methodologies)
People are usually unaware of what influences their decisions
What is one experimental methodology used to study jurors?
mock-juror simulations
Outline the methods that we may use in mock juror simulations
brief written, audio, video scenarios. Jurors assess testimonial credibility, defendant culpability and deliver verdict. Guilty/not guilty verdict vs. rating scale.
Mock juror simulations have good control, but difficulties with realism. Outline this:
- nature of materials (complexity, instructions)
- juror motivation
- no deliberation
Realism in mock juror stimulations does NOT:
guarantee generality.
Do undergraduate uni students represent the general population well in jury studies?
Yes.
What is the primary basis for juror verdicts?
The strength of evidence.
When it comes to E/W evidence, jurors aren’t really that great at acknowledging:
memorial factors vs. procedural factors
Jurors like witness confidence in E/W, but:
- they don’t realise feedback/social effects
- confidence “epiphanies”
Jurors like consistency of testimony when evaluating evidence, but
not aware of the nature of memory
Jurors like consistency of case/corroboration when evaluating evidence, but
are not aware of co-witness conformity, misinformation etc. Also on independence of evidence.
Jurors like expert testimony when evaluating evidence, but
Are not aware of reliability of source and assessing reliability of source. Or of competing experts, not good at evaluating.
What is found in juror’s evaluations of evidence?
The good?
The bad?
The ugly?
good: high pressure confessions perceived as less voluntary and reliable.
bad: high pressure confession still increases guilty verdicts.
The ugly: even when confession is ruled as inadmissible, even when jurors report it had no impact
What is encouraging when looking at jurors evaluation of evidence?
That juror is relying on strength of evidence for verdict preferences.
What is less encouraging when looking at jurors evaluation of evidence?
Juror assessments of evidence reliability/informational value. Influence of non evidential variables.
What are some examples of general findings when it comes to juror decision making?
attractiveness, SES, gender.
What is the affect of attractiveness in jurys?
If the crime involved using that attractiveness, sentence is longer. If not, decrease sentence.
defendant race interacts with what in jurors:
crime type/stereotype
What are the pre trial publicity on jurors?
- negative PTP leads to increased guilty verdict
- distorts information processing (conformation bias)
What is systematic processing in relation to jurors?
-detailed and analytical processing, careful analysis of relevant information.
What is heuristic processing in relation to jurors?
-processing guided by jurors intuitive theories, lacks the cognitive effort associated with systematic processing
The level of processing with jurors depends on what?
- motivation and ability (systematic is time consuming)
- context (availability and perceived reliability)
- task complexity, time restrictions etc
How can systematic processing and heuristic processing co exist?
- SP can attenuate HP (unambiguous testimony)
- HP can bias SP (if SP leads to insufficient confidence)
Jurors should be motivated to process systematically, but, jurors ___ provide ____
stereotypes, influential heuristics
Heuristic processing influences what in jury cases?
- decision making
- recall for case information (inconsistent information not attended to_
How do jurors synthesis complex evidence into a verdict? What are the 2 classes of model?
Formal vs. story modqels
What are formal (mathematical) models of decision making, for jury members?
Juror accumulated evidence until decision criterion for verdict is reached.
What is the story model of juror information processing?
- jurors are active assessors of evidence
- attempt to make sense of the evidence
What are the 3 phases of the story model?
- integrate evidence in a story framework
- learn available decision alternatives (verdicts)
- decision
What is the first step of the story mode, integrate evidence in a story?
- Jurors use 3 types of knowledge.
- Info not usually in chronological order.
- Juror must construct a story, making causal inferences.
- personal knowledge about similar events
- expectations about the nature of stories
What is the second step of the story mode, learn available decision alternatives?
- verdict categories (instructions from the judge)
- this can be very complex, huge list of potential options
What is the third step of the story mode, make a decision?
- consider different stories
- match the accepted story against the verdict options
- choose the verdict that matches the accepted story
What is Florida’s “stand your ground” law?
Individual has no duty to retreat from any place where they have a lawful right to be.
Formal models or story models, where does the evidence lie? Evidence exists for both:
Formal models: predicting response to evidence
Story models: effects of evidence presentation (manipulated proper verdict and organisation of evidence, more correct verdicts in story condition than issue).
What are the three summary points in juror’s decision?
- jurors try to base decision on systematic processing and strength of evidence
- jurors not always great at evaluating evidence
- increased ambiguity -> increased heuristic processing -> increased influence of non evidential factors
What is confirmation bias?
preference for information that confirms, rather than disconfirms, an already existing belief and a proneness toward belief consistent interpretations of ambiguous evidence.
The first step in juror decision making is to:
construct a case story
The case story that juror’s make:
- provides framework for interpreting later information
- opens route for Heuristic processing
What are the two confirmation bias effects?-
selective attention to information
- information processing
- attribution tendencies
Confirmation bias is a ____ phenomenon.
persistent
Is confirmation bias often conscious or subconscious?
subconscious (naturally occurring)
Increase awareness of confirmation bias can:
reduce effects
