Negative and Positive Pretrial Publicity Affect Juror Memory and Decision Making
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2008
Keywords
juror decision-making, juror bias, juror memory, source memory, pretrial publicity
Abstract
The experiment examined the effects of exposure to pretrial publicity (PTP) and delay on juror memory and decision-making. Mock jurors read news articles containing negative PTP, positive PTP, or unrelated articles. Five days later, they viewed a videotaped murder trial, after which they made decisions about guilt. Finally, all participants independently attributed specific information as having been presented during the trial or in the news articles. Half of the jurors rendered their verdicts and completed the source-memory test immediately after the trial, while the other half did so after a 2-day delay. Exposure to PTP significantly affected guilty verdicts, perceptions of defendant credibility, juror ratings of the prosecuting and defense attorneys, and misattributions of PTP as having been presented as trial evidence. Similar effects were obtained for negative and positive PTP. Delay significantly increased source-memory errors but did not influence guilt ratings. Defendant's credibility and juror ratings of prosecuting and defense attorneys significantly mediated the effect of PTP on guilt ratings.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-898X.14.3.226
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Experimental Psychology, v. 14, issue 3, p. 226-235
Scholar Commons Citation
Ruva, Christine L. and McEvoy, Cathy, "Negative and Positive Pretrial Publicity Affect Juror Memory and Decision Making" (2008). Psychology Sarasota Manatee Campus Faculty Publications. 5.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub_sm/5
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
