Juror gender and confession evidence: an exploratory study of effects on empathy and trial outcomes for juvenile defendants

Najdowski, Cynthia J.; Weintraub, Jennifer

doi:10.1007/s11292-019-09396-9

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, survey evidence reveals that women may be more likely to believe that coercive interrogation techniques can produce false confessions in adults (Henkel et al, 2008; Leo & Liu, 2009). Women were also more likely to believe that a juvenile was coerced to falsely confess and perceived the juvenile as less criminally culpable than men (Redlich et al, 2008; but see Najdowski & Weintraub, 2020).…”

Section: Individual Differences As Predictors Of Juror Discussion And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

An attribution theory–based content analysis of mock jurors’ deliberations regarding coerced confessions.

Stevenson¹,

McCracken²,

Watson³

et al. 2023

Law and Human Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Because confessions are sometimes unreliable, it is important to understand how jurors evaluate confession evidence. We conducted a content analysis testing an attribution theory model for mock jurors’ discussion of coerced confession evidence in determining verdicts. Hypotheses: We tested exploratory hypotheses regarding mock jurors’ discussion of attributions and elements of the confession. We expected that jurors’ prodefense statements, external attributions (attributing the confession to coercion), and uncontrollable attributions (attributing the confession to defendant naivety) would predict more prodefense than proprosecution case judgments. We also expected that being male, politically conservative, and in support of the death penalty would predict proprosecution statements and internal attributions, which in turn would predict guilty verdicts. Method: Mock jurors (N = 253, Mage = 47 years; 65% women; 88% White, 10% Black, 1% Hispanic, 1% listed “other”) read a murder trial synopsis, watched an actual coerced false confession, completed case judgments, and deliberated in juries of up to 12 members. We videotaped, transcribed, and reliably coded deliberations. Results: Most mock jurors (53%) rendered a guilty verdict. Participants made more prodefense than proprosecution statements, more external than internal attributions, and more internal than uncontrollable attributions. Participants infrequently mentioned various elements of the interrogation (police coercion, contamination, promises of leniency, interrogation length) and psychological consequences for the defendant. Proprosecution statements and internal attributions predicted proprosecution case judgments. Women made more prodefense and external attribution statements than men, which in turn predicted diminished guilt. Political conservatives and death penalty proponents made more proprosecution statements and internal attributions than their counterparts, respectively, which in turn predicted greater guilt. Conclusions: Some jurors identified coercive elements of a false confession and rendered external attributions for a defendant’s false confession (attributing the confession to the coercive interrogation) during deliberation. However, many jurors made internal attributions, attributing a defendant’s false confession to his guilt—attributions that predicted juror and jury inclinations to convict an innocent defendant.

show abstract

Section: Individual Differences As Predictors Of Juror Discussion And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

An attribution theory–based content analysis of mock jurors’ deliberations regarding coerced confessions.

Stevenson¹,

McCracken²,

Watson³

et al. 2023

Law and Human Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a related concern, more than 80% of my participants were women, which is not reflective of the general Canadian adult population that actual jurors are selected from (Statistics Canada, 2020). Existing jury research has identified effects of gender on legal decision-making (e.g., Bowers et al, 2001;Lynch & Haney, 2015;Najdowski & Weintraub, 2020) and general perceptions of police UoF (Girgenti-Malone et al, 2017;Halim & Styles, 2001;Thompson & Lee, 2004). For instance, women appear to be more conviction-prone in certain cases (Najdowski & Weintraub, 2020), while men tend to be more approving of police UoF (e.g., Girgenti-Malone et al, 2017).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing jury research has identified effects of gender on legal decision-making (e.g., Bowers et al, 2001;Lynch & Haney, 2015;Najdowski & Weintraub, 2020) and general perceptions of police UoF (Girgenti-Malone et al, 2017;Halim & Styles, 2001;Thompson & Lee, 2004). For instance, women appear to be more conviction-prone in certain cases (Najdowski & Weintraub, 2020), while men tend to be more approving of police UoF (e.g., Girgenti-Malone et al, 2017). In comparison to the above research, other juror studies examining gender have observed no significant differences in conviction rates (e.g., Duke & DeForges, 2007;Mossiere & Dalby, 2008).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of victim race on jurors’ perceptions of lethal use of force

Ewanation¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, a number of highly-publicized lethal police use of force (UoF) encounters have occurred in both Canada and the United States, sparking several social movements and causing public debate about officer accountability. The primary aim of this project is to increase our understanding of jurors' legal decision-making in trials involving police UoF by exploring what jurors discuss during deliberations in simulated trials and evaluating whether the race of the victim affects individual verdicts and deliberation content. Canadian jury eligible participants (N = 78) watched and listened to a fictional trial involving a police officer charged with manslaughter. The victim's race was manipulated to be either White or Indigenous. After rendering individual pre-deliberation verdicts, participants took part in a 60-minute deliberation session, then rendered individual post-deliberation verdicts. Study 1a investigated the relationship between victim race, jurors' perceived police legitimacy, and individual verdict decisions. Although victim race did not have a statistically significant effect on pre-deliberation verdicts, the odds of jurors rendering a guilty post-deliberation verdict was more than 16 times higher when the victim was White as opposed to Indigenous. Study 1b investigated how victim race and police legitimacy relate to the deliberation content of the juries. Analyses indicated that both of these variables play a significant role in jury deliberations. Specifically, jurors were significantly more likely to provide "anti-defendant" and "pro-prosecution" utterances when the victim was White, as compared to Indigenous. Additionally, jurors with negative perceptions of police were significantly more likely to utter "anti-defendant" statements. Overall, this study suggests that, contrary to the assumption of the Canadian legal system, victim race influences legal decision-making in trials involving officer UoF.

show abstract

Juror gender and confession evidence: an exploratory study of effects on empathy and trial outcomes for juvenile defendants

Cited by 2 publications

References 23 publications

An attribution theory–based content analysis of mock jurors’ deliberations regarding coerced confessions.

An attribution theory–based content analysis of mock jurors’ deliberations regarding coerced confessions.

The effect of victim race on jurors’ perceptions of lethal use of force

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About