Forensic Psychology Final Exam

currently just includes flashcards for Jury Selection (Chapter 11)

why do we use juries in trials?

The 6th and 7th amendments guarantee us the right to a trial by jury in criminal and most civil cases

what is a jury supposed to be like?

• impartial, neutral

• “a fair cross section of the community”

• a protection against government overreach

• a mechanisms for direct participation/accountability

what is the eligible criteria to be on a jury?

• live in the jurisdiction/county

• 18+ years old

• able to read, write, and speak English

• mentally competent

• no felony convictions

• valid government ID

***only about 60% of the US population is eligible

what is the best mechanisms for selecting representative subsets of a population?

random sampling. however, jury selection is NOT random and proceeds by exclusion

jury pool → random sample → venire (those who show up at the court) → voir dire → jury

what is voir dire?

the preliminary examination of prospective jurors by judges or attorneys to determine their suitability for service, ensuring they are impartial and competent to serve. It is used to identify potential biases, conflicts of interest, or preconceived notions (like death qualifications)

what is the traditional jury selection?

when attorney’s rely on experience and folk psychology to conduct voir dire and issue challenges

• personal biases & prejudices guide juror preferences; “manuals” are compendiums of stereotypes

what did the olzack 1991 study show?

• revealed that trial attorneys rely heavily on simple stereotypes and limited characteristics—similar to novices—when selecting jurors, rather than employing highly accurate psychological profiling

• both attorneys and students failed to successfully identify or avoid conviction-prone jurors, with selection strategies not corresponding to actual juror leanings

• the study highlighted that attorney intuition in jury selection is often limited by a low ceiling of precision

what is traditional jury selection a domain of?

clinical prediction

• trial experience increases attorneys’ confidence in their juror selection abilities but does not actually improve their selection accuracy.

what is scientific jury selection?

• attempts to find statistical predictors of verdicts (demographics, attitudes, occupations)

• found that there are little to no stable relationships between demographics and verdicts

• in this type of selection, there is an internal locus of control, a belief in a just world, and authoritarianism

how does authoritarianism impact jury selection?

Authoritarianism heavily impacts jury selection by favoring jurors who prioritize strict order, conform to conventional norms, and trust authority figures like police and prosecutors.

These high-authoritarian jurors are more likely to convict, favor prosecution evidence, and impose harsher sentences, making them highly desirable for the state, especially when defendants deviate from societal norms.

what is the death qualification?

when capital cases involve the possibility of the death penalty, jury members must be open to the possibility that if they convict the defendent, they are sentencing someone to death

what does the death qualification do?

it eliminates venire who are absolutely opposed to the death penalty or way too in favor of it

***authoritarianism is a strong predictor of death penalty attitudes

what is “venire”?

the summoned pool or panel of prospective jurors from which a trial jury is selected, often referred to as the "jury pool"

what are concerns of death qualified juries?

• 6th amendment says that the jury should be a fair cross-section of the community

• attitudes about the death penalty are correlated with demographics (ex: white, conservative, straight, rich men are more likely to be in support of the death penalty as compared to women, minorities, and liberals)

• death qualified juries are more prone to convictions (they see prosecution evidence as more compelling, and have more faith in the CJ system, which is related to authoritarianism)

in what ways are psychologists used as trial consultants?

• most often used in high-stakes civil trials

• used in selecting juries (ex: media content analysis of PTP, developing pretrial questionnaires for jurors)

• witness preparation

***little good evidence that trial consultants improve favorable case outcomes, but also no good evidence that it hurts, either

what are the typical sequence of events associated with a trial?

1. opening statements

2. prosecution witnesses

3. defense witnesses

4. closing arguments

5. judicial instruction

6. deliberation

7. sentencing

what is “burden of proof”?

who must prove their side of the dispute to the jury.

in criminal cases, the prosecution must prove the defendant’s guilt. in civil cases, the plaintiff must prove the defendant’s liability

what is “standard of proof”?

how strong the evidence must be to find in favor of the side facing the burden.

in criminal cases, the evidence must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. in civil cases, there is a preponderance of evidence.

what is the story model in jury decisions?

when jurors fit trial evidence together to form stories. they use their own personal knowledge and experience of similar situations to figure out how the evidence fits together. when the jury learns of the verdict options, they choose the verdict that best aligns with the selected story.

what are some deliberation dynamics?

• orientation

• open conflict

• resolution

what is “orientation” in deliberation dynamics?

verdict options guide organization of relevant aspects of trial information

what is “open conflict” in deliberation dynamics?

when they discern the meaning/value of trial information and apply either informative or normative social influence (persuasion)

what is “resolution” in deliberation dynamics?

the selection of the final interpretation and appropriate verdict. in a successful resolution, there is a verdict, but in a unsuccessful resolution, there is a hung jury.

how do you improve deliberations in jury decisions?

acknowledge all trial information and consider alternative interpretations of trial info. being evidence focused and NOT allowing ad hominin.

larger, more diverse juries tend to bring up and discuss more evidence, there are more viewpoints represented, and while it can be more tense in the short-run, there is greater juror satisfaction in the long-run.

what is the strongest predictor of jury verdicts?

evidence strength

***but in the shadow of plea bargaining, many cases that make it to trial are ambiguous

what happens when jurors lack objective guidance about the “right” course of action?

they are more likely to be influenced by hidden assumption and biases (such as appearance biases, PTP, stereotypes, racism, etc.)

what are jury instructions?

aid in understanding complex issues, but they don’t really work, as juror’s understand the language but don’t understand what the concepts mean. they also don’t work because instructions meant to clarify often increase confusion and bias jurors towards the prosecution.

what is the gatekeeper effect?

when juror’s trust any evidence that has been admitted into court (even though inadmissible evidence slips through the cracks). jurors often assume that the judge has evaluated the evidence for reliability, which in fact, this is NOT the case as judges leave evidence evaluation up to the attorneys and jurors. in fact, judges don’t do much better than jurors at understanding reliability.

why is it bad to have inadmissible evidence presented in court?

jurors are only allowed to based their verdict on admissible evidence, so when inadmissible evidence is presented, the judge must declare hearsay and strike it from the record, or declare a mistrial.

***Jurors are influenced by inadmissible evidence in the appropriate directions (ex: when prosecutors bring up the defendant’s past rap sheet although it is not allowed to be discussed in court)