Week Ten - Juror Decision Making

Question 1

Central role of jury in CJS?

Answer 1

• finders of fact
• conscience of community (jury nullification/equity)
• lay people making important / complex decisions

Question 2

Why do we look at the individual in juror decision making?

Answer 2

1. isolating basic cognitive processes
   • avoid interactions b/w variables & individuals
2. logistic/methodological concerns
   • time, space, statistical power
3. individual juror verdict best predictor of post-delib. (jury)
   verdict

Question 3

Non-experimental methodologies of studying jurors?

Answer 3

Limited
– contempt of court & accessing jurors
e.g., post-event questionnaires
– influence of deliberation/social variables
– memory/social desirability/self-report issues

Question 4

experimental methodologies of studying jurors?

Answer 4

Mock-juror simulations
• brief written, audio, video scenarios (w/ expt manipulation)
– jurors assess testimonial credibility, defendant culpability, & deliver verdict
• guilty/not guilty verdict vs. rating scale (e.g., likely guilt)

Good control, but difficulties w/ realism
– nature of materials (complexity, instructions, etc.)
– juror motivation
– no deliberation

Question 5

types of evidence that jurors like?

Answer 5

E/W evidence
- not good at identifying quality

Witness confidence
- not sensitive to presence of factors that can sway confidence

Consistency of testimony
- no sensitivity to nature of memory

Consistency of case/corroboration
- no sensitivity to co-witness conformity, misinformation etc

Expert testimony
- not sensitive to variations to reliability of source

Confessions

Question 6

Juror decision making: non-evidential influences

Answer 6

attractiveness, SES, gender
defendant race
pre-trial publicity

Question 7

attractiveness, SES, gender influence on juror decision making?

Answer 7

less/more likely to be decided guilty

interacts w/ crime type

Question 8

defendant race influence on juror decision making?

Answer 8

• interacts w/ crime type/stereotype

- interacts w/ salience of race

Question 9

pre-trial publicity influence on juror decision making?

Answer 9

– negative PTP leads to inc. guilty verdicts

– distorts information processing (e.g., confirmation bias)

Question 10

Relative influence of evidential and non-evidential information
depends on?

Answer 10

level of processing

Question 11

Levels of processing?

Answer 11

Systematic (or central route) processing:
• detailed & analytical processing - careful analysis of relevant information

Heuristic (or peripheral route) processing:
• processing guided by jurors’ intuitive theories – lacks the
cognitive effort associated with systematic processing

Question 12

Level of processing depends on?

Answer 12

• motivation & ability – SP is time consuming, demanding etc.
• context – availability & perceived reliability of heuristics
• task complexity, time restrictions etc.

Question 13

Can SP & HP co-exist?

Answer 13

• SP can attenuate HP (e.g., unambiguous testimony)

* HP can bias SP (if SP leads to insufficient confidence)

Question 14

Stereotypes of jurors influence?

Answer 14

jurors’ stereotypes provide influential heuristics

Question 15

how do jurors synthesise complex evidence into a verdict?

Answer 15

2 classes of model: formal vs. story models

Question 16

formal (mathematical) models

Answer 16

Juror accumulates evidence until decision criterion for verdict reached
– real-time accumulation
– weighting of evidence

Question 17

story model

Answer 17

Jurors impose overall structure on the evidence to make sense
– active, constructive process
– coverage, coherence, uniqueness
– PTP influences, confirmation bias etc.

Question 18

3 basic processes of story model?

Answer 18

3 basic processes:
• integration & evaluation
• learn verdict definition (effects of prior (mis)conceptions, complexity, etc)
• match verdict to story (decide)

Question 19

1. Integration and evaluation stage of SM?

Answer 19

Jurors have to use 3 types of knowledge

• evidence from trial (not usually in chronological order, has to make causal inferences)
• personal knowledge about similar events (diff jurors = diff stories)
• expectations about the nature of stories
• – coverage
• – coherence
• – uniqueness

Question 20

2. Learn verdicts stage of SM)

Answer 20

Learn Verdict categories

- toward the end, instructions from judge (usually not interpretable by lay person)

Question 21

3. Decision stage of SM?

Answer 21

Make a decision

• consider diff stories (which is accepted)
• match the accepted story against verdict options
• choose the verdict that matches the accepted story

Question 22

Increased ambiguity results in?

Answer 22

Increased HP which leads to increased influence of non-evidential factors

Question 23

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 23

A preference for information that confirms, rather than disconfirms an already existing belief and proneness towards belief-consistent interpretations of ambiguous evidence
- subconscious naturally occurring influence

Question 24

Confirmation bias effects?

Answer 24

1. selective attention to information
   - focus on supporting evidence that confirms your idea/story
2. information processing
   - less critical of ‘supporting’ evidence
   - mre critical of ‘contradictory’ evidence
3. attribution tendencies
   - interpretations of ambiguous evidence to confirm beliefs
   - consideration of alternative explanations