Psychology of the Courtroom (From Psychology of Crime and Criminal Justice, P 68-105, 1979, Hans Toch, ed. -- See NCJ-118234)

• NCJ Number: 118237
• Author(s): C Winick
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 44 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter discusses courtroom procedures and personnel roles from a psychological perspective.

Abstract

Regarding the general handling of court cases, the chapter notes that most criminal cases are handled by a filtering process, which may include charges being dropped, defendants agreeing to plead guilty to a lesser offense, applying pretrial time spent in jail toward a sentence, or diversion programs. A review of the sequence of trial events addresses trial tactics and the roles of the defendant, witnesses, judge, and jury. A major section on juries discusses the panels from which juries are drawn, studies of jurors' backgrounds, the voir dire examination, the effects of pretrial publicity, jury size, and jury deliberations. A section on judges considers judge selection, the psychology of judicial behavior, factors in judges' careers and decisions, and sentencing procedures. Court reform suggestions pertain to methods for improving juries' and judges' decisionmaking. 105 references.