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- Title
A Preliminary Inquiry into the Effect of Potentially Biasing Information on Judges and Jurors in Civil Litigation.
- Authors
Landsman, Stephan; Rakos, Richard F.
- Abstract
The American system of civil procedure presumes that judges and jurors will respond quite differently to potentially biasing material introduced into adjudicatory proceedings. Judges are assumed to possess a special capacity to control their subjective reactions to such material while jurors are perceived as incapable of such control. This article first reviews these presumptions and the differential treatment accorded judges and jurors by the system. An experiment in which judges and jurors were exposed to potentially biasing material in a civil trial is then described. The results suggest that judges and jurors may be similarly influenced by such exposure, regardless whether the biasing material is ruled admissible or inadmissible. The implications of these preliminary data—that judges may not possess the presumed special capacity to remain immune to bias—are briefly discussed.
- Subjects
UNITED States; CIVIL procedure; LEGAL procedure; CONSTITUTIONAL law; DOMESTIC relations; CIVIL rights
- Publication
Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 1994, Vol 12, Issue 2, p113
- ISSN
0735-3936
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/bsl.2370120203