The Prejudicial Impact of Pretrial Publicity¹

Abstract

The current studies examine the influence of pretrial publicity on potential jurors' attitudes toward a defendant. In Study 1, following one year of newspaper coverage of the investigation, arrest, and indictment of defendants for distributing large quantities of marijuana in southern Illinois, 604 potential jurors in that district were surveyed regarding their knowledge of the case, general attitudes toward crime, and attitudes toward the specific case. Analyses of the survey data revealed that knowledge of the case specifics was positively and significantly correlated with perceived culpability of the defendant but nonsignificantly correlated with willingness to admit partiality. Study 2 dealt with a highly publicized Dade County, Florida murder of a police officer in a drug sting operation. Again knowledge of pretrial publicity correlated significantly with perceived culpability of the defendant. As in Study 1, such knowledge did not correlate with stated ability to be impartial. We conclude that even modest pretrial publicity can prejudice potential jurors against a defendant and that self‐reports of impartiality should not be taken at face value.

Judging the Judiciary by the Numbers: Empirical Research on Judges

“…Well-founded concerns that jurors might be improperly influenced by media accounts of cases (Daftary-Kapur et al 2014;Otto et al 1994, Moran & Cutler 1991 have prompted jury instructions (9th Cir. Model Jury Instruction 1.7, 2007) and even sequestion (Strauss 1996).…”

Methodological considerations in pretrial publicity research: Is the medium the message?

“…In these types of studies, researchers examine whether there is a correlation between the amount of exposure to PTP and the perceived guilt of the defendant. Results from these studies generally fi nd high positive correlations between the amount of exposure to PTP for a particular case and the perceived culpability of the defendant for that case (e.g., Moran & Cutler, 1991, 1997. Thus, it appears that as potential jurors' knowledge increases about a case, they become more likely to perceive the defendant as guilty.…”

Predicting guilt judgments and verdict change using a measure of pretrial bias in a videotaped mock trial with deliberating jurors

“…Kerr, Kramer, Carroll, & Alfini, 1991;Kunda & Sinclair, 1999;Moran & Cutler, 1991), furthering the capacity for pretrial attitudes to undermine the justice process.…”