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So far Author Unknown has created 331 blog entries.

How do jurors weigh opinions of forensic experts pre-exposed to case information? | Online Jury Research Update

November 7th, 2022|

In 2015, the National Commission on Forensic Science (NCFS) affirmed that forensic examiners should draw conclusions solely from the physical evidence and not from any other evidence in the case. A suspect's criminal history, confession or alibi do not involve assessment of the physical evidence, and examiners are urged to be blind to such task-irrelevant information to prevent biasing their conclusions about the evidence. While over 70% of forensic examiners believe they can mitigate any bias from task-irrelevant case information simply by ignoring their expectations (Kukucka et al., 2017), scientific research overwhelming has found that knowledge of task-irrelevant case information

Is a “Fair and Impartial” Jury Even Possible?

November 7th, 2022|

A favorite client sent me this link with this message, “Wouldn’t this be a fun case to work on!” Jury Selection in the Trump Organization Case a Trial of Its Own – The New York Times (nytimes.com)  As I read it I had many thoughts, but mostly just how impossible it would be to truly get a “fair and impartial jury” for any case involving Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, everyone has an opinion. And, to muck up the water even more, I’d be very suspicious of anyone who states that they don’t have an opinion at all.

Which instructions better reduce internet-based juror misconduct? | Online Jury Research Update

November 3rd, 2022|

To prevent the biasing influence of information obtained outside the courtroom, courts often issue instructions to jurors that limit or prohibit certain activities during the trial and when deliberating. Despite these instructions, internet-based juror misconduct occurs. Carstens Namie (2019) examined the effectiveness of different types of judicial instructions about use of the internet and digital communications (e.g., social media, blogs, email, texting) on internet-based juror misconduct....

Are likeable experts more persuasive? Online Jury Research Update

October 18th, 2022|

Experts differ both in their expertise and their interpersonal style. An expert can offer higher or lower quality evidence than other experts, and can have a more or less likeable style than other experts. How does likeability affect an expert's persuasiveness? Does a likeable expert make weak evidence more persuasive? Is strong evidence less persuasive when presented by a dislikeable expert? Is a dislikeable expert with strong evidence more persuasive than a likeable expert with weak evience? Younan and Matire (2021) investigated the impact of expert evidence quality and expert likeability on expert persuasiveness in two studies....

When is attorney credibility more influential than case evidence? Online Jury Research Update

September 30th, 2022|

Attorneys are perceived as credible or non-credible trial attorneys based on the behaviors they enact during trial. Attorney credibility at trial has been assessed by behavioral measurement of an attorney's persuasion, critical listening, oral expression, physical presence, interpersonal interaction, speech clarity, organization, adaptability, synthesis and social perceptiveness ... The issue is this: How does attorney credibility matter? For example: Does attorney credibility affect verdicts? Do credible attorneys make weak cases stronger? Do strong cases win even if the attorney is non-credible? Wood and colleagues (2019) examined the relationship of attorney credibility and evidence strength on mock jurors' civil litigation verdicts

Time Management in Voir Dire: 4 Time Wasters to Eliminate from the Process

September 23rd, 2022|

Few things are more frustrating for a jury consultant than voir dire ending with the feeling that we did not learn anything particularly meaningful about the jury. It happens much more often than one might think, in part because it is difficult for some attorneys to appreciate how they could talk directly with the venire for thirty minutes and not learn anything valuable. Instead, we are left trying to extract insights from such trivial facts as Juror #14’s decades old DUI conviction or Juror #27 being an engineer. We have published extensively on the most effective strategies for voir dire

Can the impact on jurors of alcohol use be reduced in dangerous driving cases? Online Jury Research Update

September 16th, 2022|

Dangerous driving resulting in the death of another person is judged more harshly by jurors when alcohol is involved. Dolnik and colleagues (2003) investigated what might limit the impact of a defendant's alcohol use in a criminal case involving dangerous driving (speeding) that occasioned death. The case involved a defendant driving home from a party when a head-on collision occurred between two cars in which a young woman died and the defendant suffered only minor injuries. Mock jurors read a case summary that included testimony from both prosecution witnesses (a forensic police expert who examined the accident scene, ambulance officer,

Does judicial rehabilitative questioning debias jurors in child sex abuse cases? Online Jury Research Update

September 8th, 2022|

Judicial rehabilitative questioning of jurors during voir dire is intended to ensure that biasing attitudes, beliefs and experiences of jurors will not influence their verdicts. Rehabilitative questioning serves as a buffer to possible juror bias. Judicial rehabilitative questioning can be considered to be an effective buffer if, after questioning and juror affirmation of the ability to set aside any bias and follow the law, jurors both with and without the biasing beliefs and experiences reach similar verdicts (i.e., based on case evidence and not their beliefs or experiences). Castrogiovanni (2022) studied the sufficiency of judicial rehabilitative questioning in voir dire

Which types of voir dire questions yield more informative answers from jurors? Online Jury Research Update

August 29th, 2022|

Information gathering about jurors is a central goal of voir dire. The choices lawyers make about the form and tone of questions affects both the quality and quantity of information obtained from jurors. Grosso and O'Brien (2019) analyzed attorney questions and juror answers of actual individualized voir dire of 729 potential jurors in 12 North Carolina capital cases. A detailed analysis was conducted of 8,583 general legal opinion questions lawyers asked these 729 jurors....

DHow does juror discretion affect damage awards to plaintiffs who are Black, Asian or female? Online Jury Research Update

August 18th, 2022|

The law seeks to ensure that injured plaintiffs are compensated for their injuries regardless of their race, ethnicity or gender. Girvan and Marek (2016) investigated how jurors differentially award damages based on plaintiff race, ethnicity and gender. Damage awards were examined where jurors have less discretion in determining the amount (economic damages) and where jurors have more discretion in determining the amount (pain and suffering damages). Jury verdicts were analyzed from 1,133 tort cases in New York, Florida and Illinois ....