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- Title
The impact of misinformation presented during jury deliberation on juror memory and decision-making.
- Authors
Cullen, Hayley J.; Dilevski, Natali; Nitschke, Faye T.; Ribeiro, Gianni; Brind, Shobanah; Woolley, Nikita
- Abstract
When deliberating, jurors may introduce misinformation that may influence other jurors' memory and decision-making. In two studies, we explored the impact of misinformation exposure during jury deliberation. Participants in both studies read a transcript of an alleged sexual assault. In Study 1 (N = 275), participants encountered either consistent pro-prosecution misinformation, consistent prodefense misinformation, or contradictory misinformation (pro-prosecution and pro-defense). In Study 2 (N = 339), prior to encountering either pro-prosecution or pro-defense misinformation while reading a jury deliberation transcript, participants either received or did not receive a judicial instruction about misinformation exposure during deliberation. Participants in both studies completed legal decisionmaking variables (e.g., defendant guilt rating) before and after deliberation, and their memory was assessed for misinformation acceptance via recall and source memory tasks. In Study 1, misinformation type did not influence legal decisionmaking, but pro-prosecution misinformation was more likely to be misattributed as trial evidence than pro-defense or contradictory misinformation. In Study 2, pro-defense misinformation was more likely to be misattributed to the trial than pro-prosecution misinformation, and rape myths moderated this. Furthermore, exposure to pro-defense misinformation skewed legal decision-making towards the defense's case. However, the judicial instruction about misinformation exposure did not influence memory or decision-making. Together, these findings suggest that misinformation in jury deliberations may distort memory for trial evidence and bias decision-making, highlighting the need to develop effective safeguards for reducing the impact of misinformation in trial contexts.
- Subjects
DELIBERATION; MISINFORMATION; DECISION making; JURORS; JURY; LEGAL evidence
- Publication
Frontiers in Psychology, 2024, p1
- ISSN
1664-1078
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1232228