Daftary-Kapur Tarika, Penrod Steven D, O'Connor Maureen, Wallace Brian
Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY.
Law Hum Behav. 2014 Oct;38(5):462-77. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000081. Epub 2014 Jun 16.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of pretrial publicity (PTP) on mock juror decision making. Specifically, we examined the influence of quantity and slant of the PTP (proprosecution vs. prodefense), the persistence of PTP effects over time, and whether the PTP effects demonstrated in research laboratories would also occur in more naturalistic settings (generalizability). Using a shadow jury paradigm we examined these effects using a real trial as stimulus. Mock jurors included 115 jury-eligible community members who were naturally exposed to PTP in the venue in which the actual case occurred and 156 who were experimentally exposed. We found mock jurors were significantly influenced by both the slant and quantity of the PTP to which they were exposed, such that those exposed to proprosecution or prodefense PTP tended to render decision in support of the party favored in the PTP, and those exposed to greater quantities of PTP tended to be more biased. Additionally, PTP effects persisted throughout the course of the trial and continued to influence judgments in face of trial evidence and arguments. A finding of no significant difference in the effect of exposure slant between the naturally exposed and experimentally exposed samples provides support for the external validity of laboratory studies examining PTP effects. This research helps address some of the concerns raised by courts with regard to the durability of PTP effects and the application of laboratory findings to real world settings.
本研究的目的是考察审前宣传（PTP）对模拟陪审员决策的影响。具体而言，我们考察了PTP的数量和倾向（支持检方与支持辩方）的影响、PTP效应随时间的持续性，以及在研究实验室中证明的PTP效应是否也会在更自然的环境中出现（普遍性）。我们采用影子陪审团范式，以一场真实审判为刺激物来考察这些效应。模拟陪审员包括115名符合陪审员资格的社区成员，他们在实际案件发生的场所自然接触到了PTP，以及156名通过实验接触到PTP的成员。我们发现，模拟陪审员受到他们所接触的PTP的倾向和数量的显著影响，以至于那些接触到支持检方或支持辩方的PTP的人倾向于做出支持PTP中受青睐一方的决定，而那些接触到更多PTP的人则倾向于有更大的偏见。此外，PTP效应在整个审判过程中持续存在，并且在面对审判证据和辩论时继续影响判断。在自然接触样本和实验接触样本之间，接触倾向的影响没有显著差异这一发现，为检验PTP效应的实验室研究的外部效度提供了支持。这项研究有助于解决法院对PTP效应的持续性以及实验室研究结果在现实世界中的应用所提出的一些担忧。
