Research Article Summary – Juries 1-CITATION Baguley, C. M., McKimmie, B. M., & Masser, B. M. (2017). Deconstructing the simplification of jury instructions: How simplifying the features of complexity affects jurors’ application of instructions. Law And Human Behavior, 41(3), 284-304. doi:10.1037/lhb0000234. Retrieved March 26, 2018. 2-CRITIQUE I. Questions: What improvements can be made to the jury instructions in order to simply and increase juror comprehension? II. Design: The authors designed their research by using existing data from published experimental studies to examine how condensing each facet of complexity affects mock jurors’ application of instructions, as jurors can only apply instructions to the extent they …show more content…
Results: The results show: A) That dropping the theoretical complexity and amount of additional data was associated with augmented application of the instructions. B) However, reducing both the verbal complexity and amount of information, and providing the instructions in a written format was not. C) In addition, results showed an unexpected contrary effect of popularization—reducing the amount of information was associated with an increase in the punitiveness of mock jurors’ verdicts, independently of the directive content. IV. Discussion: The authors concluded that collectively the results suggest a need to make jury instructions comprehensible, highlight the key principles in the decision-process, and identify a way to eliminate the negative effect of reducing the amount of information. A) Suggestions: 1) The authors recommended that the jury instructions be more comprehensible, touch base on the key principles in the decision-making process and identify a way to eradicate the negative effect of reducing the amount of information. B) Limitations: 1) The authors acknowledged that one of the limitations to this study is that not all instructions would get read due the self-pace of the
Kassin, Saul, and Lawrence Wrightsman (Eds.). The Psychology of Evidence and Trial Procedure. Chapter 3. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1985. Print.
This chapter is mainly devoted to the jury selection process and how it is taken care
Smith, William (1997) “Useful or Just Plain Unfair? The Debate Over Peremptories; Lawyers, Judges Spllit Over the Value of Jury Selection Method” The Legal Intelligencer, April 23: pg 1.
As one of the seven jury deliberations documented and recorded in the ABC News television series In the Jury Room the discussions of the jurors were able to be seen throughout the United States. A transcript was also created by ABC News for the public as well. The emotions and interactions of the jurors were now capable of being portrayed to anyone interested in the interworkings of jury deliberations. The first task,...
In the United States, jury trials are an important part of our court system. We rely heavily on the jury to decide the fate of the accused. We don’t give a second thought to having a jury trial now, but they were not always the ‘norm’.
Today juries are much more diverse. Men, women, and people from diverse backgrounds are called to jury duty. Although the origin of the jury system is not clear, history has shown that William the Conqueror from Normandy introduced a similar system to England around 1066 CE (Judiciary of Vermont 1). After the American Revolutionary War, the jury system became the American ideal of justice. This essay will explore the history of the American jury system and illustrate how it has evolved over the course of the American history.
Stevenson, D 2012, The function of uncertainty within jury systems, George Mason Law Review, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 513-548, viewed 6 May 2014, .
A jury is a panel of citizens, selected randomly from the electoral role, whose job it is to determine guilt or innocence based on the evidence presented. The Jury Act 1977 (NSW) stipulates the purpose of juries and some of the legal aspects, such as verdicts and the right of the defence and prosecution to challenge jurors. The jury system is able to reflect the moral and ethical standards of society as members of the community ultimately decide whether the person is guilty or innocent. The creation of the Jury Amendment Act 2006 (NSW) enabled the criminal trial process to better represent the standards of society as it allowed majority verdicts of 11-1 or 10-2, which also allowed the courts to be more resource efficient. Majority verdicts still ensure that a just outcome is reached as they are only used if there is a hung jury and there has been considerable deliberation. However, the role of the media is often criticized in relation to ensuring that the jurors remain unbiased as highlighted in the media article “Independent Juries” (SMH, 2001), and the wide reporting of R v Gittany 2013 supports the arguments raised in the media article. Hence, the jury system is moderately effective in reflecting the moral and ethical standards of society, as it resource efficient and achieves just outcomes, but the influence of the media reduces the effectiveness.
Famous writer Robert Frost stated, “A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.” While selecting a competent lawyer is important, in the court of law, the process of jury selection is easily one of the most important factors. While many elements are considered during the process of jury selection, the most valuable is the use of psychology. Psychology is used by lawyers during the process of jury selection to choose the best possible jurors to decide the fate of their client. Psychology can be used in many different ways such as voir dire, persuasion, and research.
4). This is written in a negative tone implying that a change needed to happen in order for them to be more successful; this change being an increase in visual evidence. Expressing a very similar opinion is Michael Diamant, a business attorney. He states the following, “What I’m trying to do with the jury is to focus the issue so they can understand [it] in a clear graphic way, and take away all the noise around it” (INSERT, 2012, para. 6). This will allow the jury to focus solely on what’s important, influencing their decision in the way that the lawyers want it to. Speaking on the contrary to his previous statement, Carney argues, “Lawyers can get overenthusiastic about creating visuals. They forget they have to be directly connected to the evidence.” He then explains that the jury will get tired of it. The jury wants to be engaged and informed. This requires a balance between visual evidence and non-visual evidence. To put the summary of this article into perspective, it’s easy to use an example: the murder case of Susan Wright. Visual evidence will surely help the jury understand the actions that took place on the night of the murder. But what’s important and what’s superfluous? Some important visual evidence for the jury to see
Juror misconduct is an issue that began a long time ago and it is caused mainly by the fact that the jurors that participate in these cases are not familiar with the information provided and this excludes the information off of present digital media as well as in movies and the television. The internet is the greatest challenge of this problem. In the olden days, obtaining information about a case outside the courtoom would have been a considerably long and difficult task with a higher chance of being unconvered, however now, the itch is stronger because materials, such as newspaper articles can be obtained withing the snap of a finger. In addition to that, almost all the jurors are constantly communicating and have visual media contact with
Within the movie, it can be seen that persuasive argument is employed by one single juror to help sway the majority to believe his analysis of the evidence presented. He sets on a course to reach out to each juror and improve their thinking by reasonable and justified persuasion. There were three points raised in the tri...
The quietness and patience juror 8 displayed caused tension amongst the other jurors creating careful and adequate (Flouri & Fitsakis, 2007, p.453) deliberations. Juror 8 's circle of influence (Covey, 2013) directly influenced the other jurors’ circle of concern (Covey, 2013) when forcing them to question their thought process. Juror 8 chose a collaborative negotiation (Budjac Corvette, 2007, p. 63) method when deliberating with the other jurors immediately handing down guilty verdicts for the defendant. Furthermore, juror 8 used his ACES to help the other jurors cross the creek (Budjac Corvette, 2007, p.
The Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association suggested to the HOCHAF that the test be amended to require the jury to consider “what a reasonable person (sharing the characteristics of the defendant) would have thought”. However, the Government opposed this on the grounds that it would require the jury to consider all the characteristics of the individual defendant and this is believed to be inappropriate because some characteristics “should not absolve the defendant of guilt”.
In 1957 there was a film entitled “12 Angry Men,’’ and it was a film about a son who, supposedly, killed his father and the 12 men who are the juror's for the court case. Throughout the film, there is a lot of arguing and bickering, but with the arguing, watchers learn more and more about all the characters and their views and beliefs and how they influence their votes. In the 1957 film, viewers learn the most about how jurors' votes are shifted mostly by their, past experiences, unfamiliar knowledge, and their open minds.