Persuading a Jury:

1
Persuading a Jury

• Optional H/W from last lesson
• What effect does the order in which testimony is
  presented have on persuading a jury? (10) JUN 11

2
Persuasion- Expert Witness

• From the research by Loftus et al we know that
  eye witness testimony is unreliable.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vrSzPn9rsPcY
• Why?
• What is used in light of this in the courtroom?

3
Persuasion

• Expert witnesses are widely used in criminal
  trials to add scientific credence to evidence.
• Psychologists such as Loftus are often called as
  expert witnesses for the defence to warn jurors
  of the possible problems with eye witness
  testimony.

4
Loftus (1980) Impact of Expert Psychological
Testimony

• Strengths
• Weaknesses

5
Persuading a Jury

• Effect of evidence being ruled inadmissible

6
JAN 11

• What is the effect on a jury of evidence being
  ruled inadmissible in court? (10)

7
Learning Objectives

• To understand what inadmissible means.
• To understand evidence relating to the effect of
  ruling evidence inadmissible.
• To describe and evaluate the key study by Pickel.

8
The Times (September 9th 2009)

• What is the point of Britains intelligence
  agencies spending millions on surveillance if the
  information obtained cannot be used to convict
  dangerous extremists?
• Suspected terrorists are given curfews and are
  electronically tagged, but the information
  obtained against them cannot be used in court as
  it is deemed inadmissible.
• www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/
  article6826580.ece

9
What types of evidence do you think would be
considered inadmissible?
10
Effect of evidence being ruled inadmissible

• This is when the judge telling a jury to
  disregard inadmissible evidence.
• It is an issue in the US legal system.
• Inadmissible evidence includes unjustified bias
  or prior conviction evidence (which is not meant
  to be heard by a jury).
• If evidence is seen as biased, a re-trial could
  be called for with a new jury, and counsel
  responsible for introducing the evidence would be
  disciplined.

11
Persuading a Jury

• Effect of Inadmissible Evidence
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v_Y-_-6sxXRI

12
Inadmissible evidence

• Will the jury really be able to ignore the
  information?
• Does the act of telling the jury to ignore the
  inadmissible evidence make them more or less
  likely to discount this information?

13
Broeder (1959)

• Found a boomerang effect
• Mock jurors, when instructed to disregard a piece
  of information that showed the defendant was
  insured, jurors awarded them greater damages than
  when it was not ruled inadmissible.
• Perhaps because the instruction to disregard the
  evidence increased the importance of the
  information.

14
Boomerang Effect

• Also called Reactance theory attention is
  drawn to this evidence
• Jury may react to the order to ignore evidence as
  they perceive that their freedom to take all
  evidence into account is undermined.

15
the jury should ignore that last remark....

• This is quite often heard if counsel drops a
  remark that is seen as inadmissible.
• But how?
• Reactance theory argues that if a judge asks the
  jury to ignore a comment, if anything, they are
  more likely to attend to it....
• Kind of like a big red button that should NEVER
  be pressed.

16
Key Study

• Pickel
• Investigating the effect of instructions to
  disregard inadmissible evidence

17
Method
18
Method - Procedure
19
Findings

• Evidence ruled inadmissible and received no
  explanation were able to ignore the inadmissible
  evidence.
• Evidence ruled inadmissible and received an
  explanation were less able to ignore this
  information less guilty verdicts.
• When measuring the extent to which the prior
  conviction affected their verdict, there were no
  significant findings for this.

20
Conclusion

• Calling attention to inadmissible evidence makes
  it more important to the jury and they therefore
  pay more attention to it.
• How can we apply these findings to the real life
  courtroom?
• This tactic needs to be available to both sides
  of the argument to ensure a fair trial.

21
Optional H/W

• January 2011
• What is the effect on a jury of evidence being
  ruled inadmissible in court? (10)

22
Compulsory H/W

• Describe how persuasion may be used in a
  courtroom. (10)