PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Peremptory Challenge, O. J. Simpson, Group Polarization
26 May 2018
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i. US: extensive process; common in high profile to hire “Trial Consultants” who
assist in selecting a jury that will be sympathetic to particular case
1. Look at what characteristics would be favorable
ii. AU: use of trial consultants almost unheard of due to very limited availability of
peremptory challenge
g. What guides their decisions?
i. Lawyers suggest
1. Women: sympathetic & conscientious jurors
2. Avoid women as they are unpredictable, influenced by husbands
3. Women not good for defense of attractive females
4. Women’s libbers may be antagonistic to male defendants
5. Old women wearing too much make up: unstable, bad for state prosecutors
6. = VERY INCONSISTENT
ii. Demographic variables do not consistently predict juror verdicts
iii. Evidence: substantially more potent determinant of juror’s verdicts than individual
characteristics of jurors
iv.When evidence is ambiguous, juror’s personalities
h. Scientific jury selection
i. Attempts to draw correlations b/w demographics & trial-relevant attitudes
ii. Consultants conduct survey in the jury population
iii. Prospective juror fits an unfavorable profile, use peremptory challenge to exclude
iv.Controversial process
1. Favor: picking jurors using science is more refined version than intuition,
problem is in the peremptory challenge
2. Oppose: problem with representativeness of jury, tips scales of justice toward
the wealthy
i. Example: OJ simpson
i. Would you want African American woman on jury?
ii. Jury: 1 AA man, 1 Hispanic American man, 2 White women, 8 AA women
3. Studying jury behavior
a. Post-trial interviews
i. Not possible in many countries b/c jurors forbidden by law from disclosing
content of deliberations
ii. Post-trial interviews w/ jurors from U.S. can provide valuable data source
iii. Limitations include
1. Social desirability of responses
2. Inaccurate recall
a. Trials go on for a long time; may not remember
b. Archival records
i. Use records of trials (transcripts, police interviews)
ii. Limitations include
1. Inability to establish cause & effect
2. Limited in what questions can be asked by the info available for collection
a. Cannot manipulate variables
c. Simulation techniques
i. mock jurors presented w/ simulated trial
1. Asked to render verdict or make other judgments
ii. Independent variables can be manipulated
iii. Limitations include
1. Questionable generalizability to real life cases
d. Field Studies
i. Research is conducted within a real trial
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