In Twelve Angry Men, one strong juror sways a strong majority of 11 other jurors to change their minds. In reality, a minority of jurors effectively influences the majority only rarely...
A witness can testify directly that "After I heard the shot, I made a phone call" or can imply making the call through the indirect statement that "After I heard the shot, I went to the telephone." A witness can testify directly that "I rang the burglar alarm" or can imply ringing the alarm through the indirect statement that "I ran up to the burglar alarm." The actions of phone calling and alarm ringing are affirmed in the direct testimony, and only implied in the indirect testimony. Harris and colleagues (1978) studied the effects of direct and indirect statements in
Takakawa (1999) had members of a jury pool in Hawaii listen to direct examination of witnesses, including speakers of Standard English and Hawai'i Creole English. Jurors judged speakers of Standard English as most credible. Stephan and Stephan (1986) found that non-Hispanic jurors judged Spanish speaking and Thai speaking defendants...
Jurors learn by listening in voir dire. The questions attorneys ask and the answers other jurors provide can educate jurors about due process rights. Middendorf and Luginbuhl (1995) explored whether jurors learned more about due process rights by a judge explaining those legal guarantees or an attorney asking other jurors about those rights in voir dire...
When jurors are asked questions in voir dire, silence is generally understood by the court as a negative response. However, jurors remaining silent in group voir dire are not jurors without bias. A substantial number of jurors do not reveal important information in open court...
Some jurors are thinkers and enjoy such activities as effortful thinking, sudoku, logic puzzles, and playing chess. These "thinking" jurors pay close attention to and scrutinize carefully what is said to them. These jurors have what is called a high need for cognition. Other jurors are less motivated to engage in effortful thinking. These jurors have a low need for cognition...
Expert psychological testimony can be clinical or actuarial. Clinical expert psychological testimony is based on a clinician's opinion stemming from years of experience within the field. Actuarial expert psychological testimony is based on standardized assessment measures. Krauss (2000) explored whether jurors were more influenced in their decision-making...
Hahn and Clayton (1996) compared reactions of male and female jurors to either a male or female defense attorney cross-examining a witness in an assault and robbery case. The attorney variously used an aggressive or non-aggressive presentation style...
Male jurors, though not female jurors, respond differently to male and female attorneys. Pfeifer (1988) compared reactions of male and female jurors to a male and female prosecutor...
Unlike criminal cases where pretrial publicity is usually about the defendant (rather than the prosecutor), pretrial publicity in civil cases might be about either the defendant or the plaintiff. Borstein and colleagues (2002) explored the effects of pretrial publicity in a personal injury case concerning the leakage of a chemical...