NCJ Number
122122
Journal
Law and Human Relations Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1989) Pages: 291-310
Date Published
1989
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Juror decision making in civil suits against police officers alleged to have engaged in illegal searches is examined in this study using simulated case material and mock jurors drawn both from adults called for jury service and a student subject pool.
Abstract
The impact of a cognitive process (the hindsight bias) and of individual attitudes on awards is assessed in this experiment which finds that both are related to juror decisions. A theoretical model is tested which specifies that both attitudes and outcome knowledge exercise their influence on the damage awards decision by means of their impact on interpretation of testimony. The role played by interpretation of evidence as a mediator between individual attributes and juror decisions is supported by causal models of the decision-making process. 3 tables, figure, 20 references. (Author abstract modified)