Neuroscience
Whether jurors decide to hand down a life sentence or the death penalty depends in part on their perception of the defendant’s appearance. That’s the finding from interviews with 80 jurors during their involvement in real-life American murder cases.
Even after taking into account the nature of the murder, defendants who were perceived by jurors to be sorry and sincere were more likely to be sentenced to life imprisonment than to be sentenced to death. On the other hand, defendants who appeared bored or who looked frightening were more likely to be given the death penalty. That’s despite jurors being instructed to make their decision based only on the legal facts of the case.
Appropriately, the jurors’ choice of punishment was also related to the nature of the crime. They were more likely to opt for the death penalty if the victim was made to suffer before being killed, or if they were maimed or mutilated after death. Murders that weren’t premeditated were more likely to be punished by life imprisonment.
“Finding that trial outcomes are not solely the result of legal facts and evidence brought out during the trial, but are attributable to extra-legal factors, including the defendant’s appearance, may be disturbing to many who believe in the integrity of our criminal justice system…” said Michael Antonio, author of the study.
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Antonio, M.E. (2006). Arbitrariness and the death penalty: How the defendant’s appearance during trial influences capital jurors’ punishment decision. Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 24, 215-234.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
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Whether jurors decide to hand down a life sentence or the death penalty depends in part on their perception of the defendant’s appearance. That’s the finding from interviews with 80 jurors during their involvement in real-life American murder cases.Even after taking into account the nature of the murder, defendants who were perceived by jurors to be sorry and sincere were more likely to be sentenced to life imprisonment than to be sentenced to death. On the other hand, defendants who appeared bored or who looked frightening were more likely to be given the death penalty. That’s despite jurors being instructed to make their decision based only on the legal facts of the case.
Appropriately, the jurors’ choice of punishment was also related to the nature of the crime. They were more likely to opt for the death penalty if the victim was made to suffer before being killed, or if they were maimed or mutilated after death. Murders that weren’t premeditated were more likely to be punished by life imprisonment.
“Finding that trial outcomes are not solely the result of legal facts and evidence brought out during the trial, but are attributable to extra-legal factors, including the defendant’s appearance, may be disturbing to many who believe in the integrity of our criminal justice system…” said Michael Antonio, author of the study.
_________________________________
Antonio, M.E. (2006). Arbitrariness and the death penalty: How the defendant’s appearance during trial influences capital jurors’ punishment decision. Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 24, 215-234.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Brain Scans Could Influence Jurors More Than Other Forms Of Evidence
It's surely just a matter of time until functional MRI brain scans are admitted in US and UK courts. Companies like No Lie MRI have appeared, and there have been at least two recent attempts by lawyers in the USA to submit fMRI-based...
- Can Psychologists Tell Jurors Anything They Don't Know Already?
Some judges in America have allowed the introduction of psychologists in court to help jurors understand eye-witness suggestibility - that is, how prone their memory is to distortion, for example by misleading questioning. But other judges have refused...
- Jurors May Be Biased Against Fathers In Child Sex Abuse Trials
Accused fathers in child sex abuse trials have the odds stacked against them, a new study suggests. Monica McCoy of Converse College and Jennifer Gray of the University of Wyoming found that with all other circumstances and evidence held equal, people...
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Studies that didn't make the final cut this fortnight: The 'implicit association test', used to measure people's inherent biases, might not be as pure a measure as some would suggest. And see this on Mind Hacks. Can false memories recover...
- Concerns Raised About The Use Of Computer Animations In Court
Things seem so much more predictable once they’ve happened – a flaw in our thinking that’s been dubbed the ‘hindsight bias’. It’s a particular problem in legal cases where jurors are asked to judge the extent to which a defendant should have...