Mock Jury and Juror Responses to Uncharged Acts of Sexual Misconduct

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-209
Author(s):  
Jane Goodman-Delahunty ◽  
Natalie Martschuk
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Sexual Interest ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Lower Threshold ◽  
Simulated Trial ◽  
Jury Deliberations ◽  
Mock Jury ◽  
Criminal Intent

Abstract. Internationally, admissible incriminating evidence of uncharged acts by the accused is presumed unfairly prejudicial, and remains controversial. In an experimental study, 325 jury-eligible citizens were randomly assigned to a simulated trial in which the accused faced two charges. Juries were exposed to no evidence of uncharged acts or prejudicial evidence describing four uncharged sexual acts by the accused reported by the complainant or two independent witnesses. Jury inferences about the accused’s sexual interest in children and his criminal intent were logically related to the source and type of evidence. While ratings of the likelihood of culpability increased with evidence of uncharged acts, juries were reluctant to convict solely on the basis of the complainant’s word. Jury deliberations disclosed that prejudicial evidence did not induce impermissible reasoning or a lower threshold of proof. Multiple convergent measures revealed little danger of unfair prejudice to the accused.

Six heads are better than one: An analysis of mock-jury deliberations in a civil case

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Jackson ◽  
Jennifer L. Devenport ◽  
Christopher D. Kimbrough
Keyword(s):  
Civil Case ◽  
Jury Deliberations ◽  
Mock Jury ◽  
Better Than

scholarly journals What do we know about rape myths and juror decision making?

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Leverick
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Rape Myth ◽  
Juror Decision Making ◽  
Rape Victims ◽  
Mock Jurors ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Jury Deliberations ◽  
Mock Jury ◽  
First Time

This paper presents overwhelming evidence that prejudicial and false beliefs held by jurors about rape affect their evaluation of the evidence and their decision making in rape cases. The paper draws together for the first time the available evidence from both quantitative and qualitative studies (most of which are not found in law journals, but rather in scientific outlets, most commonly those focusing on experimental psychology). The quantitative research demonstrates that mock jurors’ scores on so-called ‘rape myth scales’ are significant predictors of their judgments about responsibility, blame and (most importantly) verdict. The qualitative research indicates that jurors frequently express problematic views about how ‘real’ rape victims would behave and what ‘real’ rape looks like during mock jury deliberations and that even those who score relatively low on abstract rape myth scales can express prejudicial beliefs when deliberating in a particular case. The studies vary in terms of their realism, but it is important to note that some of the studies reported here were highly realistic trial reconstructions, involving representative samples of jurors drawn from the community, live trial reconstructions, evidence-in-chief and cross-examination, accurate legal directions and deliberation in groups. The review concludes by examining the evidence on whether juror education—whether in the form of judicial directions or expert evidence—might be effective in addressing problematic attitudes.

Breaking boundaries? Sexual consent in the jury room

Legal Studies ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Finch ◽  
Vanessa E Munro
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Future Application ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Limited Effect ◽  
Jury Deliberation ◽  
Jury Deliberations ◽  
Legal Outcomes ◽  
Mock Jury ◽  
Rape Trial ◽  
Sexual Offences Act 2003

By introducing legal tests centring upon concepts of freedom, capacity and reasonableness, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 reflects a deliberate legislative attempt both to provide a clearer structure for jury deliberation on sexual consent and to hold defendants to a higher level of accountability in relation to their belief in its existence. While these developments are well intentioned, it is argued that they may ultimately prove to be of limited effect. More specifically, it is suggested that there is an inherent complexity in the concepts of freedom, capacity and reasonableness, at least in the largely undefined form in which they have been introduced, such that the Act may, in practice, simply result in the proliferation of a new set of malleable legal tests and unpredictable legal outcomes.Drawing on a series of mock jury deliberations undertaken by the authors in which participants were asked, having observed a short rape trial reconstruction, to apply the tests set out in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in order to reach a verdict, this paper examines the ways in which the concepts of freedom, capacity and reasonableness were interpreted. Bearing in mind the inevitable constraints of the mock jury methodology (in particular its verisimilitude to real juries), this paper suggests that there may, nonetheless, be some valuable lessons to be gleaned from these deliberations about the future application of the law in actual rape cases.

The effect of interpreting modes on witness credibility assessments

Interpreting ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Beatriz Hale ◽  
Natalie Martschuk ◽  
Uldis Ozolins ◽  
Ludmila Stern
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Specialized Training ◽  
Mock Jurors ◽  
Simultaneous Interpreting ◽  
Witness Credibility ◽  
Simulated Trial ◽  
Court Interpreting

Research into court interpreting has shown that interpreters can have an impact on the case in many different ways. However, the extent to which this occurs depends on several factors, including the interpreter’s competence, ethics and specialized training in court interpreting, as well as working conditions. One little explored aspect is whether use of consecutive vs. simultaneous interpreting can impact jurors’ perception of a witness or other interpreted party. This paper reports on the results of a large-scale experimental study, with a simulated trial run in different conditions, involving a total of 447 mock jurors. The aim was to identify any differences in the way jurors in Australian courts might assess the evidence of an accused called as a witness, in a monolingual hearing as well as when interpreted consecutively and simultaneously from Spanish to English. Overall, jurors’ recollection of case facts did not differ significantly for the three conditions, though it was lower for consecutive during the afternoon. Jurors also found consecutive more distracting; on the other hand, the consecutive mode was associated with significantly more favourable perception of the accused’s evidence than simultaneous interpreting or monolingual communication. Although jurors found the prosecution to be less convincing when the accused’s evidence was interpreted consecutively compared to the other proceedings, the interpretation mode made no difference to the verdict.

scholarly journals Storytelling Rituals in Jury Deliberations

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9(5)) ◽  
pp. 747-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Rossner
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Criminal Trial ◽  
Actual Process ◽  
Jury Deliberation ◽  
Jury Deliberations ◽  
Mock Jury

Research on jury deliberation tends to focus on deliberative outcomes, such as verdict decisions. Less attention is paid to the actual process of deliberation. This paper analyzes a video recording of a mock jury deliberation in a simulated criminal trial, focusing on facial expression, gesture, and discourse. Drawing on ethnomethodology and micro-sociological theories of ritual, I examine how jurors make sense of the evidence presented to them and how they work together to collectively produce a coherent narrative of events. I argue that a focus on the ritual dynamics of the deliberation help to understand how such a co-production can occur. La investigación sobre la deliberación del jurado tiende a centrarse en los resultados de esa deliberación, como pueden ser los veredictos. Menos atención genera el proceso mismo de deliberación. Este artículo analiza una grabación de vídeo de la deliberación de un jurado en un simulacro de juicio penal, y se fija especialmente en las expresiones faciales, los gestos y los discursos. Basándome en la etnometodología y en teorías de ritual microsociológicas, examino la forma en que los jurados buscan el sentido de las pruebas que se les presentan y la forma en que trabajan juntos para producir una narración coherente de los hechos. Argumento que poner el énfasis en las dinámicas rituales de la deliberación ayuda a entender cómo se realiza esa producción colectiva.

Experimental study on the restoration from a tilt-azimuth series for improvement in resolution

1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 636-637
Author(s):  
Norio Baba ◽  
Norihiko Ichise ◽  
Syunya Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Spherical Aberration ◽  
Incident Beam ◽  
Optical Parameters ◽  
Beam Tilting ◽  
Illumination Method ◽  
Restoration Method ◽  
Illumination Mode

The tilted beam illumination method is used to improve the resolution comparing with the axial illumination mode. Using this advantage, a restoration method of several tilted beam images covering the full azimuthal range was proposed by Saxton, and experimentally examined. To make this technique more reliable it seems that some practical problems still remain. In this report the restoration was attempted and the problems were considered. In our study, four problems were pointed out for the experiment of the restoration. (1) Accurate beam tilt adjustment to fit the incident beam to the coma-free axis for the symmetrical beam tilting over the full azimuthal range. (2) Accurate measurements of the optical parameters which are necessary to design the restoration filter. Even if the spherical aberration coefficient Cs is known with accuracy and the axial astigmatism is sufficiently compensated, at least the defocus value must be measured. (3) Accurate alignment of the tilt-azimuth series images.

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