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Capital Jury Deliberation: Effects on Death Sentencing, Comprehension, and Discrimination

Capital Jury Deliberation: Effects on Death Sentencing, Comprehension, and Discrimination This study focused on whether and how deliberations affected the comprehension of capital penalty phase jury instructions and patterns of racially discriminatory death sentencing. Jury-eligible subjects were randomly assigned to view one of four versions of a simulated capital penalty trial in which the race of defendant (Black or White) and the race of victim (Black or White) were varied orthogonally. The participants provided their initial “straw” sentencing verdicts individually and then deliberated in simulated 4–7 person “juries.” Results indicated that deliberation created a punitive rather than lenient shift in the jurors’ death sentencing behavior, failed to improve characteristically poor instructional comprehension, did not reduce the tendency for jurors to misuse penalty phase evidence (especially, mitigation), and exacerbated the tendency among White mock jurors to sentence Black defendants to death more often than White defendants. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Law and Human Behavior American Psychological Association

Capital Jury Deliberation: Effects on Death Sentencing, Comprehension, and Discrimination

Law and Human Behavior , Volume 33 (6): 16 – Dec 31, 2009

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References (59)

Publisher
American Psychological Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 American Psychological Association
ISSN
0147-7307
eISSN
1573-661X
DOI
10.1007/s10979-008-9168-2
pmid
19333746
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This study focused on whether and how deliberations affected the comprehension of capital penalty phase jury instructions and patterns of racially discriminatory death sentencing. Jury-eligible subjects were randomly assigned to view one of four versions of a simulated capital penalty trial in which the race of defendant (Black or White) and the race of victim (Black or White) were varied orthogonally. The participants provided their initial “straw” sentencing verdicts individually and then deliberated in simulated 4–7 person “juries.” Results indicated that deliberation created a punitive rather than lenient shift in the jurors’ death sentencing behavior, failed to improve characteristically poor instructional comprehension, did not reduce the tendency for jurors to misuse penalty phase evidence (especially, mitigation), and exacerbated the tendency among White mock jurors to sentence Black defendants to death more often than White defendants.

Journal

Law and Human BehaviorAmerican Psychological Association

Published: Dec 31, 2009

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