In arriving at their verdicts, jurors must determine what really happened in the case at hand. The jury has been one of the most mysterious forces in united states law. Psychological research has implications for jury decision making. Factors influencing jury decisionmaking my a levels. Use as filter to decide what evidence is relevant and should be retained, and what evidence to discard. The decision making processes of individual jurors is only one element of jury decision making, which takes place in the context of group deliberation.
N2 this chapter, and indeed the entire book, focuses on some old topics, namely legal consciousness, legal decision making, and the interaction between the two. Some research has examined the decision making process at the jury level, but the majority of research has examined juror decision making processes at the individual level. Mathematical models of juror and jury decisionmaking. Much research has been conducted to further our understanding of what verdicts juries are likely to render when faced with. The order in which the story is told can effect jury decision making. The order in which the story is told can effect jury decisionmaking. To begin, we outline various cognitive models of juror decisionmaking that have been advanced and tested in recent decades. Some of these models have involved attempts to identify relationships between juror or population characteristics and jury outcomes e. The story model for juror decision making chapter 8.
In total, 206 distinguishable studies involving deliberating juries actual or mock were located and grouped into 4 categories on the basis of their focal variables. A scoping study of key psychosocial theories to inform the design and analysis of the panel study section 1. There are rational models, intuitive models, rationaliterative models as well as 5, 6, 7 and even 9 step decision models. Models of jury as opposed to juror decision making examine how individual preferences combine dur. Decision making literature paints a skeptical picture of jurors ability to interpret this evidence. Experimental research on jury decision making author. Most, however, move through each of the basic stages in decision making. According to the story model, the process of decision making takes place in three steps. Jury decision making 625 preaches, most jury level models have sought to predict jury outcomes e. Our conclusion is that the juror is a sense making information processor who strives to create a mean. Cognitive representation of information presented at trial explanationbased story model 3 processes in jury decision making.
The jury method of deciding guilt involves group deliberation with an obligation of group unanimity, or adherence to some other formal decision rule, before a decision can be made foss, 1976. This article uses conversational data from simulated jury deliberations to describe jurors practice of articulating schematic interpretations as accounts for their verdict choices. Jury selection pretrial publicity jury decision making u. The story model of juror decisionmaking umkc school of law. Jury research suggests that jurors might actually be able to interpret and use this evidence.
Introduction and validation of the juror decision scale jds. The first half of the model describes how jurors use the evidence they hear during trial to create narrative explanations or stories about how trialrelated events likely occurred. The jury is generally a competent decision making body, rendering decisions that vary appropriately with the strength of evidence. Statistical reasoning, and the size of the jury, 68 camf. Pennington and hastie 1990 easy to understand order increases guilty verdicts. For a more detailed criticism of the models cited in ballew v. Sage reference story model for juror decision making. Kaplan and cullisons model for jury decision making. Use as framework for analyzing evidence and arguments during trial. In many civil jury trials, negligence and causation are commonly centered on the jurors judgment of the case.
Juror and jury decision making in this line of research, we have focused on evaluating how jurors make decisions in various contexts, with the goal of helping jurors make the best possible decisions. In 2003, jim dwyer, peter neufeld and barry scheck published actual innocence, an eye. Researchers have studied juries through mathematical modeling, using social psychological theory, and using explanation. Jury decision making psychology and law iresearchnet. Included are the legal model, in which the decisions are based solely on the provided facts on the case. This is because all the individuals and social group processes such as social. The story model theory to juror decision making is an explanationbased approach that emphasizes jurors cognitive organization and representation of facts. Jurors may put more stress on the concrete event, rather than an assessment of probabilities of an injury or accident. A jury is composed of untrained citizens, drawn randomly from the eligible population. Some research has examined the decisionmaking process at the jury level, but the majority of research has examined juror decision making processes at the individual level.
Some research has examined the decisionmaking process at the jury level, but the majority of research has examined juror decisionmaking processes at the individual level. Although story construction is central in our theory and has been the focus of most. Law of large numbers, flawed perception on chance, bayesian models, disregard base rates. Making use of those foundations, devine offers a new integrated theory of jury decision making that addresses both. The volume summarizes existing theories of jury decision making and identifies what we have learned about jury behavior, including the effects of specific courtroom practices, the nature of the trial, the. The story model rests on the assumption that jurors organize evidence they hear during trial in a narrative, storylike format. An important tool in this effort has been the mock jury experiment, in which research participants are randomly assigned to alternative trial conditions and asked to.
In jury decision making, individual viewpoints must converge to reach a group consensus. By isolating a small group of individuals together under the pretense that a decision must. These models make a number of assumptions about the dynamics ofjury deliberation that have been assessed empirically. To begin, we outline various cognitive models of juror decisionmaking that have. It requires ordinary citizens who lack legal training to hear evidence, make sense of con. Convergence of viewpoints may reflect reasonable compromises, for example if jury deliberations reflect informational influences and social learning which allow individual jurors to correct biases, misunderstandings andor imperfect recall of evidence. Models of jury decision making are then discussed with specific reference to the story model, predecisional distortion and source monitoring errors. To better explain how jurors make decisions in trial, psychologists have proposed a variety of decision making models.
Story model for juror decision making forensic psychology. Understanding the dynamics of decisionmaking and choice. The jury setting in the criminal justice system offers a unique social setting that provides the opportunity for social influence within networks. In each instance the model is described and compared with related models, its assumptions are scrutinized, its fit to normative data is evaluated, and possible revisions and extensions of the model are discussed. The second half of the model describes how the jury. This study investigated the utility of the story model for decision making at the jury level by examining the influence of evidence order and deliberation style on. Research into jury decision making has shed light on many phenomena in criminal and civil legal systems, but many questions remain. In the sections that follow, where possible, we apply aspects of these models to applied problems in the legal realm. Because trial juries deliberate in secrecy, legal debates about jury functioning have relied heavily on anecdote and speculation. The many decision making models that exist nowadays means that you even have to make a decision as to which one to use.
Decisionmaking usually involves a mixture of intuition and rational thinking. Keywords juries, decision making, public policy the jury is a unique institution. Their interpretations then guide their decision making and become influential in the group deliberation process. In recent years, investigators have begun to challenge many common assumptions about jury behavior. Diagram depicting how typical jurors process information during trials. Leading jury and decision making researchers recently discussed how psychological science can examine individual and group decision making. A level psychology criminal psychology mind map on evaluation. Jury decision making has implications for psychological research. Factors influencing jury decision making, created by katie greensted on 29052019. In exp 1, varying the ease with which stories could be.
The story model not only describes the process the juror undergoes when making a decision in a trial but claims that the story constructed by the. The story model not only describes the process the juror undergoes when making a decision in a trial but claims that the story constructed by the juror ultimately. Jury verdicts directly affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the united states every year and serve a bellwether function in plea bargaining and settlement negotiations. When an individual gives up their personal views due to group pressure.
Group decision making also known as collaborative decision making is a situation faced when individuals collectively make a choice from the alternatives before them. While jury decision making has received considerable attention from social scientists, there have been few efforts to systematically pull together all the pieces of this research. A jury is composed of untrained citizens, drawn randomly from the eligible population, convened briefly for a particular trial, entrusted with great official powers, permitted to deliberate in secret, to render a verdict without explanation, and without any accountability then or ever, to return to private life. These models are typically grouped into two categories. Jury psychology from psych 3cc3 at mcmaster university. Conversely, psychological research can inform trial procedures, enabling juries to benefit from fairer procedures and reach better outcomes. Theoretical models of jury decisionmaking researchgate. A common feature of these models is the use of the group statethe distribution of jurors across distinct verdict factionsas the unit of analysis. Jury deliberations and verdicts are expressions of judgment.
The story model for jury decision making, by nancy pennington and reid hastie from inside the juror 4 the meter model of juror decision making two conceptions of the juror, lola lopes from inside the juror session 8 march 19, 2008. This chapter first examines the four main methods of jury research. Devine examines over 50 years of research on juries and offers a big picture overview of the field. The legal model of judicial decision making that the. Download citation theoretical models of jury decision making the jury is a central part of the american legal system and is also an important legal decision maker across the world. Critics have leveled extensive allegations that juries are unpredictable, unrepresentative of the population of the united states, biased, and irresponsible. Understanding the dynamics of decision making and choice. The decision is then no longer attributable to any single individual who is a member of the group. Reform 712 1973, the author tested the deliberations of larger and smaller panels by showing to sets of both sizes the video tape of a single mock civil trial. In the courts of the united states there are three different models of judicial decision making that the supreme court uses. Jurors make decisions just like other human beings do, but they do so in an environment that is different from everyday individual decisionmaking. This theoretical starting point for the process of jury decision making outlines the causeandeffect relationship between how jurors process trial evidence in a narrative fashion i. Current directions in psychological jury decision making.
An informationprocessing model of jury decision making. The jury is a central part of the american legal system and is also an important legal decisionmaker across the world. Introduction this paper provides an overview of some of the main psychological models of decision making and choice and assesses their relevance to disabled and. A jury is composed of untrained citizens, drawn randomly from the eligible population, convened briefly for a particular trial, entrusted with great official powers, permitted to deliberate in secret, to render a.
Scott a thesis submitted to the faculty of the graduate school of loyola university of chicago in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of. Much research has been conducted to further our understanding of what verdicts juries are likely to render when faced with particular trial facts and players. A look inside the jury room yvette tinsley abstract although there exists a large body of research literature on the jury system, only a small amount of research has been able to tap the attitudes and behaviour of actual jurors, and this has principally been confined to the united states. In contrast, the story model of juror decision making is an explanationbased model of juror decision making that contends that jurors construct a narrative story that best accounts for the often conflicting trial evidence and then select the verdict option that best fits that narrative. Explanationbased story model juror as active participants incorporate jurors unique experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes that may affect how they interpret the evidence and decide guilt. A jury is composed of untrained citizens, drawn randomly from the eligible population, convened briefly for a particular trial, entrusted with great official powers, permitted to deliberate in secret, to render a verdict without explanation. We have explored how jurors process evidence such as confession evidence or expert testimony, testing how jurors perceive the evidence and. The convergence of explanatory coherence and the story model. Lets say that the trial is over, all the evidence has been seen, and the trier i. Thus, jury decision making has implications for psychological theory, and psychological research has implications for legal policy. The volume summarizes existing theories of jury decision making and identifies what we have learned about jury behavior, including the effects of specific courtroom practices, the nature of the trial, the characteristics of the participants, and the evidence itself.
In note, an empirical study of six and twelvemember jury decision making processes, 6 u. Attribution theory there have been a number of approaches regarding attribution theory. Experimental research on jury decisionmaking science. Story model for juror decision making to better explain how jurors make decisions in trial, psychologists have proposed a variety of decision making models. Jury decision making 45 years of empirical research on. The juror decision scale jds and acceptance of modern myths about sexual aggression ammsa measure were completed by 324 jury eligible participants split across 27 jury panels, after observing a rape trial reenactment high in ecological validity. Hasties 1986, 1988 explanationbased theory of decision making for juror decisions.
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