Schweitzer Kimberly, Nuñez Narina
Department of Criminal Justice University of Wyoming Laramie, WY, United States.
Department of Psychology University of Wyoming Laramie, WY, United States.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2018 Mar 15;25(3):437-451. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2018.1437666. eCollection 2018.
The present research explores how important different trial evidence is to mock jurors' decisions. Study 1 surveys legal professionals to determine what evidence is common at homicide trials. Study 2 utilizes the list of evidence generated in Study 1 to ask mock jurors to report how important each piece of evidence would be in deciding their verdicts. The results indicate that DNA is most important to mock jurors, followed by fingerprints, the weapon, video records, crime-scene photos, gunshot residue, bodily secretions, video confession, testimony from a forensic expert, and eyewitness testimony. Study 3 utilizes a different methodology wherein mock jurors were presented with folders labeled with different evidence and asked to choose the piece of evidence they wanted to learn more about first, second, and so on. The results from Study 3 indicate again that DNA evidence is most important to mock jurors, followed by video confession evidence, eyewitness testimony, and fingerprint evidence. Implications are discussed.
本研究探讨了不同的审判证据对模拟陪审员决策的重要程度。研究1对法律专业人士进行了调查，以确定在杀人案件审判中哪些证据较为常见。研究2利用研究1中生成的证据清单，要求模拟陪审员报告每一项证据在决定其裁决时的重要程度。结果表明，对模拟陪审员来说，DNA最为重要，其次是指纹、凶器、视频记录、犯罪现场照片、枪击残留物、身体分泌物、视频供词、法医专家的证词以及目击证人的证词。研究3采用了不同的方法，向模拟陪审员展示标有不同证据的文件夹，并要求他们选择首先、其次等想要进一步了解的证据。研究3的结果再次表明，对模拟陪审员来说，DNA证据最为重要，其次是视频供词证据、目击证人的证词和指纹证据。文中对研究结果的影响进行了讨论。
