The influence of lawyers' questions on witness accuracy,confidence, and reaction times and on mock jurors' interpretation of witness accuracy

Two studies demonstrate the influence of lawyers' complex questions on mock‐witness accuracy, confidence, and reaction times and on the interpretation of witness accuracy by mock jurors. In study one, 32 mock witnesses were shown a short film and then questioned either with lawyers' complex questions or simple alternatives. In Study 2, 20 mock jurors viewed video footage of the mock witnesses assigned to each of the two previous conditions and were asked to rate their confidence in the witnesses' answers. The findings of the two studies indicated that lawyers' use of confusing questions reduce not only accuracy but also speed of response and both witnesses' and jurors' ability to determine accuracy. The implication of these findings is straightforward, lawyers should ask simple questions wherever possible. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

公务员心理健康研究进展

作为一个特殊的职业群体,公务员心理健康问题正日益得到多方关注,本文通过对公务员心理健康研究现状进行总结分析,发现目前公务员心理健康研究中存在的问题,对未来开展相关研究及如柯改善公务员心理健康状况提出建议。     

Alibi believability: Corroborator certainty,cooperativeness and relationship with the defendant

Alibi believability can be affected by characteristics of the alibi corroborator, including the relationship between the defendant and corroborator, which has been studied extensively by researchers. The corroborator's certainty that they were together at the time of the crime may also influence alibi believability, but only a few studies have examined this. Another factor that may affect believability is the corroborator's cooperativeness with the police, which is yet to be studied in the alibi context. Online U.S. participants recruited from CloudResearch (N = 280) acted as mock jurors and evaluated a mock arson case where the defendant used an alibi defence. The alibi corroborator's relationship to the defendant (brother/neighbour), the certainty that they were together at the time (65%/100%) and cooperativeness with police (cooperative/uncooperative) were manipulated between participants. The participants were evenly split when it came to verdict (p > .05) but were more likely to vote guilty when the corroborator was a brother rather than a neighbour (p < .01) and when the brother was uncooperative versus cooperative (p < .05). As expected, alibis were more believable when they were corroborated by a neighbour rather than a brother and when the corroborator was 100% certain that they were together versus 65% certain (ps < .01). Alibis were also more believable when the corroborator cooperated than when he was uncooperative (p < .01). Cooperative (vs. uncooperative) corroborators led to more positive defendant and corroborator views on all six character trait measures (ps < .01). Implications and future directions are discussed.     

In Search of Causes of Hung Juries

A major problem facing the jury system is the hung jury. Several solutions have been proposed i.e., to minimize the decision rule, to create mixed juries, or to give the jury the 'dynamite' instructions. Nevertheless, no efforts have been made to determine the underlying causes of a hung jury. This paper presents an empirical study of hung versus unanimous juries in terms of the deliberation style and content. It suggests ways of avoiding hung juries.     

近20年来美国法律社会心理学研究新进展

20世纪80年代以来美国法律社会心理学在陪审团、证人证言、公民对犯罪的态度等方面的研究取得了一些新成果。从这些新成果可以看出,该领域的研究者们更注重将社会心理学与法学的观点和研究视角相结合,使自己的理论成果更符合实践要求。     

Juror Perceptions in a Rape Trial: Examining the Complainant's Ingestion of Chemical Substances Prior to Sexual Assault

This study examined the impact of a rape complainant's willingness to ingest a chemical substance and the type of ingested substance on the decisions of 229 mock jurors. Jurors were influenced by the type of substance used by the complainant, the complainant's willingness to use a substance, and rape myths. The complainant's ingestion of alcohol (compared to gamma-hydroxybutrate [GHB] and marijuana) led to the highest guilt ratings for the defendant. The complainant who willingly ingested a substance was viewed as less credible and more to blame for the rape compared to one who unwillingly used a substance. The complainant was perceived as the most credible when she unwillingly ingested GHB or marijuana. Jurors high in rape myth acceptance gave lower ratings of guilt to the defendant compared to jurors with lower rape myth acceptance. Overall, the results highlight several juror and case factors that might bias jurors in actual rape trials.     

Neuropsychology, neuroscience, volitional impairment and sexually violent predators: A review of the literature and the law and their application to civil commitment proceedings

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Kansas v. Crane, the person's mental abnormality or personality disorder must cause the individual to have “serious difficulty in controlling his sexual behavior,” rather than “total or complete lack of control.” While most state civil commitment statutes do not mandate this volitional impairment language relevant to loss of control, they instead incorporate the requirement of findings of “likely” or “likelihood” to reoffend. Yet in some of these state SVP hearings, the forensic mental health expert witnesses testify as to the offender's ability to control his sex offending behaviors. Occasionally, some of these experts are neuropsychologists and neurologists who testify about a sex offender's neurological and cognitive impairment resulting in sexually deviant behavior, volitional impairment, and likelihood of reoffending. This article's focus is to assess deviant sexual offending behaviors and volitional impairment through a neuropsychological and neurological lens. The author will provide an analysis of the literature as to the structural and functional neurocognitive processes of sex offending pertaining to neuropathology, neuropsychology, and neuroimaging data. The author will attempt to apply these findings to the legal requirements outlined in Crane necessitating commitment of sex offenders who experience some volitional impairment in their behaviors that lead them to be likely to sexually reoffend. The author will review state case law addressing neuroscience in SVP proceedings.