THE SUBJECTS WERE 144 MALE UNDERGRADUATES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FROM AN INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY COURSE. THEY WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO SIX-PERSON MOCK INJURIES WHICH HEARD EACH ORDER OF CASES: RAPE-VANDALISM OR VANDALISM-RAPE. MOCK JURORS WITH PRIOR EXPERIENCE ON THE RAPE CASE WERE FOUND TO FAVOR CONVICTION IN THE VANDALISM CASE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE OFTEN THAN JURORS WITHOUT SUCH EXPERIENCE. HOWEVER, JURORS WITH PRIOR EXPERIENCE ON THE VANDALISM CASE WERE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS LIKELY TO CONVICT THE DEFENDANT IN THE RAPE CASE THAN THOSE JUDGING THAT CASE WITHOUT EXPERIENCE. AS EXPECTED, EXPERIENCED MOCK JURORS PERCEIVED THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES TO THE DEFENDANT IN THE RAPE CASE AS BEING MORE SERIOUS THAN THOSE WITHOUT SUCH EXPERIENCE AND SUBSEQUENTLY CONVICTED THE DEFENDANT AT A LOWER RATE. ALSO, EXPERIENCED JURORS PERCEIVED THE POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES TO THE DEFENDANT IN THE VANDALISM CASE AS BEING LESS SERIOUS THAN THOSE WITHOUT SUCH EXPERIENCE AND CONVICTED THE DEFENDANT AT A HIGHER RATE. THE IMPORTANT FINDING WAS THAT PRIOR EXPERIENCE AFFECTS THE VERDICT PREFERENCE OF SUBJECTS REACTING TO A LATER OSTENSIBLY SEPARATE EVENT. THEREFORE, A REDUCTION IN THE REQUIRED LENGTH OF JURY SERVICE TO ONE TRIAL MAY BE WORTH CONSIDERING TO ELIMINATE ANY BIASES RESULTING FROM PRIOR EXPERIENCE. ALSO THE GRANTING OF EXCUSES FROM JURY SERVICE ON GROUNDS OF FINANCIAL BURDEN OR NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT COULD BE PARTIALLY ELIMINATED SINCE JURORS WOULD ON THE AVERAGE SERVE FOR ONLY 1 OR 2 DAYS. TABLES AND 27 REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED.