The influence of accounts and remorse on mock jurors' judgments of offenders. 2009

Alayna Jehle, and Monica K Miller, and Markus Kemmelmeier
R&D Strategic Solutions, Lexington, MA 02421, USA. alaynajehle@yahoo.com

Defendants often provide accounts that minimize their responsibility for the accused offense. Jurors attribute responsibility to defendants and decide legal outcomes based on the given account. The current research examined the effects of accounts (i.e., excuse, justification, denial, and no explanation) and the defendant's remorse display (i.e., remorseful, remorseless) on mock jurors' judgments. Participants acquitted the defendant in the denial condition most often and recommended the most lenient punishment in the justification condition. The remorseful defendant was found guilty more frequently than the remorseless defendant in the no explanation and (marginally) excuse conditions. Limitations and future research are discussed.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007600 Judgment The process of discovering or asserting an objective or intrinsic relation between two objects or concepts; a faculty or power that enables a person to make judgments; the process of bringing to light and asserting the implicit meaning of a concept; a critical evaluation of a person or situation. Judgement,Judgements,Judgments
D008014 Lie Detection Ascertaining of deception through detection of emotional disturbance as manifested by changes in physiologic processes usually using a polygraph. Detection, Lie,Detections, Lie,Lie Detections
D008297 Male Males
D011329 Prisoners Persons deprived of their liberty; those held is against their will, or who are kept in confinement or custody. Detained Persons,Hostages,Imprisoned Individuals,Incarcerated Individuals,Inmates,Detained Person,Hostage,Imprisoned Individual,Incarcerated Individual,Individual, Imprisoned,Individual, Incarcerated,Inmate,Person, Detained,Prisoner
D011678 Punishment The application of an unpleasant stimulus or penalty for the purpose of eliminating or correcting undesirable behavior. Punishments
D003415 Crime A violation of the criminal law, i.e., a breach of the conduct code specifically sanctioned by the state, which through its administrative agencies prosecutes offenders and imposes and administers punishments. The concept includes unacceptable actions whether prosecuted or going unpunished. Kidnapping,Poaching,Crimes,Kidnappings
D003657 Decision Making The process of making a selective intellectual judgment when presented with several complex alternatives consisting of several variables, and usually defining a course of action or an idea. Credit Assignment,Assignment, Credit,Assignments, Credit,Credit Assignments
D003717 Denial, Psychological Refusal to admit the truth or reality of a situation or experience. Denial, Psychology,Psychological Denial
D004644 Emotions Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties. Feelings,Regret,Emotion,Feeling,Regrets
D005260 Female Females

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