|
A Chain of Consequences: An Information Processing Model of Pretrial Prejudgment
Craig New, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Social Psychology, December 2002. (Ronald Dillehay, advisor)
When crimes attract considerable attention in the media, as homicide cases which are likely to be prosecuted as capital cases and some others often do, the 6th Amendment right to a fair and impartial jury may be compromised in the venue of the crime. This study used a model of media influence that includes frequency of use of the media (newspapers, TV and radio), the mediating effects of some factors of reception (exposure to the case through TV, radio, and the newspapers; prejudicial case-specific knowledge and belief), and the prejudgment that the defendant is guilty. The effects of some pre-existing criminal justice attitudes were also examined. Data used in the study came from systematically conducted surveys of prospective jurors in seven cases over three different states. Results support the prediction that prejudgment of defendants derives from exposure to media accounts and is mediated by the reception factors. In addition, criminal justice attitudes predict prejudgment, but not reception. That is, those with more punitive attitudes are not more likely to have been exposed to the case in the media but are more likely to judge the defendant to be probably or definitely guilty.
Operating Outside the Rules: An Examination of the Social Psychological Factors Affecting Jury Nullification Tendencies in a Decision-Making Context
Dionne M. Maxwell, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Social Psychology, May 2003. (Ronald Dillehay, advisor)
Under conditions analogous to some features of a courtroom jury, this project investigated effects of instructions and attitudinal styles and content on decisions about transgressors. In the experiment, instructions in one condition emphasized following the law; in a second condition the emphasis was on adhering to community standards and sentiments; and in the third treatment no guidelines were provided--participants were left to their own devices. Instructions emphasizing the law consistently produced harsher judgments against the perpetrator when compared to the group left to their own preferences. Following a model developed by Maxwell concerning differences in the style of thought and relevant attitudes, the two groups who were relatively more disposed toward crime control dispositions (called Loyalists and Conformists, and who tended to place a higher emphasis on such things as the suppression of crime; commitment to law and order; and trust in the ability and honesty of authorities) were more punitive toward the transgressor than were contrasting groups (identified as Mavericks and Patriots). Overall, new findings about the effects of instructions and the role of attitudes appear in this research.
An Empirical Analysis of Defendant, Victim, and Crime Characteristics as Predictors in Prosecutorial Decisions to Charge Death
Roselyn K. Polk, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Social Psychology, August 2003. (Ronald Dillehay, advisor)
Guided by the literature that has examined decisions to seek the death penalty in relation to factors about the crime, the defendant, and the victim, this was an exploratory study of data from Washoe County covering a period of approximately 22 years following the reinstatement of capital punishment in Nevada in 1977. The overall focus of the study was prediction of the filing of intent to seek the death penalty in cases of first degree murder. Crime-related variables included were the weapon used, relationship of the defendant to the victim, and aggravators present. Defendant factors were age, ethnicity, gender, education, employment status, use of alcohol or drugs, and residential status. Victim variables were ethnicity, gender, and social status. Analyses revealed that the likelihood of filing an intent to seek the death penalty is greater for those who were unemployed, who were less than 30 years of age, who were using drugs or alcohol, and who had a larger number of statutory aggravators. Other analyses explored the predictive utility of a risk of death scale, devised specifically for this study, and found it to predict the filing of intent to seek the death penalty. This scale consisted of the Nevada statutory aggravators plus some crime and victim factors. In a second focus of the study, based on limited data and an attempt to apply rational bias theory in a new domain, the election cycle for prosecutors was found not to be associated with decisions to file for capital prosecution.
Misguided Discretion: A Dual Process Model of Juror and Jury Sentencing in Capital Trials
Bryan Edelman, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Social Psychology, May 2003. (Ronald Dillehay, advisor)
In an attempt to develop a model that was consistent with the literature on race and juror sentencing in capital trials, this study tested a proposed model of juror decision-making. Data were provided on capital jurors by the Capital Jury Project. These data included over 300 white jurors and some 139 cases where the defendant was black and the victim was either white or black. Results indicated that white jurors displayed more empathy toward white victims than toward black victims and evaluated them more positively. Empathy toward the victim was also found to have an influence on how black defendants were evaluated. Both defendant and victim evaluations had implications for how mitigating evidence was evaluated and for white jurors' pre-deliberation sentence positions. Victim evaluations were found to have an effect on how mitigating evidence was evaluated. Mitigating evidence was given less weight when the victim was evaluated positively. In addition, defendant evaluations had a direct effect on pre-deliberation sentence positions. These results suggest that empathy toward the victim has a pervasive influence on the evaluation of sentence phase evidence and on pre-deliberation sentence positions.
|
|
