How Race Affects Jury Comprehension of Judge’s Instructions In previous research, Sargent and Bradfield (in press) asked: Does a defendant’s race affect how jurors will evaluate the facts of a trial?
They found highly motivated jurors relied on alibi strength in deciding the case regardless of the race of the defendant. However, jurors paid more attention to the black defendant’s case regardless of their level of motivation. This thesis applies these findings to juror comprehension of judge’s instructions. Judge’s instructions are often complicated and jurors rely on superficial, peripheral cues when judging cases. In this thesis, two variables were manipulated: race of defendant (black v. white) and motivation of the participant (high v. low). It is hypothesized that those participants in the high motivation condition will attend to and therefore comprehend the judge’s instructions better than those participants in the low motivation condition, except when the defendant is black. When the defendant is black, regardless of the level of motivation, participants will pay closer attention to the judge’s instructions presumably because of the modern racism theory. Jennifer McGill ’04 L
Related Questions
- How Race Affects Jury Comprehension of Judge’s Instructions In previous research, Sargent and Bradfield (in press) asked: Does a defendant’s race affect how jurors will evaluate the facts of a trial?
- What instructions might the judge provide to the jury during the course of the trial?
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