Reaching a Verdict
Persuading a Jury
Answer as many of the following statements as you can….
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In Britain we have an adversarial court system, this is where….
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Prior to 1215 Britain used something called……
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In France they have an inquisitorial court system, this is where…
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At what age are you eligible to be a member of a jury?
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Who is not eligible for jury service?
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What training do jurors receive?
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Why are some jurors challenged “for cause” by either the prosecution or defence?
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What happens if this challenge is upheld?
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In the USA, jury selection involves voire dire explain what this entails?
Reaching a Verdict
• Here we will be looking at:
• Persuading a jury
• Witness appeal
• Reaching a verdict
Persuading a Jury:
Effect of order of testimony
Persuading a Jury: Effect of order of testimony
•
It is the job of the prosecution to persuade a jury that a defendant is guilty and the
defence to persuade that the defendant is not guilty.
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However, many other factors may influence this:
Murdoch (1962) in a lab study using word lists discovered an effect known as the
‘primacy effect’, where words at the beginning of a list were more likely to be
recalled.
What does this suggest in terms of the courtroom?
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‘Glanzer & Cunitz’ (1966) presented two groups of participants with the same list
of words and got one group to recall immediately and the other to have their recall
disrupted by counting backwards. The first group showed better recall of the
words at the end of the list, whereas the disrupted group lost the benefit of the
recency effect.
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What does this suggest in terms of the courtroom?
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Knowing about the primary/recency effect how might that effect how a case is
structured?
• It is important to look at how cases are structured.
• Should they present their case in story order (chronological
order), or should they present it in witness order (evidence
arranged in the order closest to trial – best witnesses first and
last).
• Pennington and Hastie suggest that story order is best.
Persuading a Jury:
Persuasion
• From the research by Loftus et al we know
that eye witness testimony is unreliable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSzPn9rsPcY
Why?
* What is used in light of this in the courtroom?
Persuasion
• Expert witnesses are widely used in criminal trials to add
scientific credence to evidence.
• Psychologists such as Loftus are often called as expert
witnesses for the defence to warn jurors of the possible
problems with eye witness testimony.
• However, research has shown the jurors disregard these
warnings and still believe eye witness accounts.
Why?
Persuading a Jury:
Effect of Inadmissible Evidence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y-_-6sxXRI
Read the booklet on Effects of
evidence being ruled inadmissible and
complete the chart below.
How evidence is used in the UK and USA
UK
USA
Effect of evidence being rules inadmissible
• The law says that in order for evidence to be admissible in court, its
relevance must outweigh its potential for prejudice.
• Inadmissible evidence includes past convictions and evidence obtained by
illegal means.
• If inadmissible evidence is presented in error by a witness, the judge will
direct the jury to disregard what they have just heard.
• However, by drawing attention to it, it may be that the jury in fact pays
even more attention to it.
• This is called reactance theory. The jurors feel undermined in their
freedom to take into account all evidence. This is also known as the back
fire effect. The consequence is the backfire effect.
Evaluation of persuading a jury
• Sample & Generalisibility:
• P&H
• Loftus
• Pickel et al
Evaluation of persuading a jury
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Methods
All three studies used a Lab experiment and self-reports (likert scale or
questionnaire).
Advantages of using a Lab experiment (relate to studies):
• P&H
• Loftus et al
• Pickel et al
Evaluation of persuading a jury
• Methods
• Disadvantages of using a lab experiment (relate to studies):
• P&H
• Loftus et al
• Pickel et al
Evaluation Issues
• ETHICS
• P&H
• Loftus et al
• Pickel et al
Evaluation Issues
• Internal validity
• P&H
• Loftus et al
• Pickel et al
• Ecological Validity
• P&H
• Loftus et al
• Pickel et al
Self-reports
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Advantages of self-reports:
P&H
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Loftus et al
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Pickel et al
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Disadvantages of self-reports:
P&H
•
Loftus et al
•
Pickel et al
What implications do these studies have on persuading a jury?
• P&H
• Loftus et al
• Pickel et al