NCJ Number
104509
Journal
Journal of Applied Social Psychology Volume: 16 Issue: 7 Dated: (1986) Pages: 590-607
Date Published
1986
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined pretrial publicity and a temporal interval between the publicity and trial to determine their effects upon the jury's deliberation process and verdict.
Abstract
Publicity (neutral, negative) and trial timing (immediate, delayed) were manipulated in a 2x2 design. Twenty 12-person simulated juries were exposed either to neutral or negative publicity and viewed a videotaped criminal trial immediately following news exposure or after a 1-week delay between publicity and trial. Dichotomous predeliberation and postdeliberation verdicts, probability of guilt scales, trial recall, ratings of companion jurors, perceptions of attorneys, assessments of the news article, and recall of news facts were measured. Deliberations were tape recorded and content analyzed. Juries exposed to neutral and negative publicity did not significantly differ on conviction rate, deliberation length, or on quality of deliberations. Prejudicial news elicited counter remarks from jurors about the publicity's threat to the defendant's right to a fair trial. Individual juror data revealed that although the news manipulation did not significantly affect predeliberation verdicts or attention to trial events, negative news lowered jurors' probability estimates of guilt and facilitated their recall of news facts. A discriminant analysis predicting jury verdict indicated a lack of support for prior research showing damaging effects from prejudicial pretrial publicity. Findings are explored for methodological implications and for the usefulness of theoretical notions of reactance and 'sleeper effects.' 3 tables, 2 figures, and 45 references. (Author abstract modified)