The effects of perceived community pressure on simulated juror guilt attributions : an experimental study

This dissertation explored the possible effects of community pressure on trial juror guilt attributions. The results of the controlled laboratory experiment were then applied to the issue of televised trials using the following scenario: if trials are televised and jurors are shown on television (as they currently are in more than 20 states), the jurors will lose their anonymity and become more susceptible to community pressures. The types of trials chosen for telecasting would generate large doses of pre-trial publicity, and the level of pre-trial publicity is directly related to the level of prejudgment of guilt in a community.

With that background it was hypothesized that subjects treated with community pressure would be more likely to convict a criminal defendant (in a mock trial setting) than would subjects not exposed to community pressure.

The data were gathered in a laboratory experiment in which subjects were given detailed instructions, handed news stories and shown videotaped excerpts of a trial. A questionnaire was distributed to the 145 subjects, undergraduate students at Texas A&M University.

Results suggest that perceived community pressure did play a role in verdicts. The group treated with community pressure was significantly more likely to deliver a guilty verdict and to score the defendant higher on a 10-point guilt intensity scale.

The results of this test of community pressure can be applied to the question of cameras in the courtroom. Opponents of televised trials say that jurors whose identity can be ascertained might become more susceptible to pressure to conform to community sentiments. Currently, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling in Chandler v. Florida (1981), 38 states allow some form of televised courtroom coverage; many of those states are still formulating policies.

The data from this study, although certainly not conclusive, did suggest that televised trials could have an effect on jurors whose identity is available to the community. It was recommended that states continue to experiment with televised trials, but that they include provisions which prohibit the televising of the jury.