Some parties argue that jurors might get hung up on superficial extralegal factors which may impact their eventual ruling. Another criticism is that they might take expert testimony too seriously (or not even comtemplate its importance at all if they don't understand it). Instructions are also an issue in whether jurors follow them or not. Also, complex cases can be rather questionable as well

Research suggests that in criminal cases, a defendant's prior record, multiple charges or character and personality may be a factor. In civil cases, the extent of physical injuries to the plantiff may impact the decisions of juries

Research has shown that the more emphasis that a judge puts on the inadmissibility of certain evidence, the more jurors may tend to linger on it

Before the trial begins, jruros can be informed as to the parts of the law that will apply to their case. Also, judges can provide written copies of instructions but they often fail to answer jurors questions regarding these instructions

Bias refers to the human predisposition to make interpretations on the basis of beliefs and past experiences. Bias is inevitable because it is inescapable human nature to make assumptions about human behavior

First and foremost, the information-processing demands placed on jurors must be simplified. Instructions should also be simplified and explained clearer. Mid-trial discussion would also likely benefit the process in addition to the posing of questions from jurors to the judge

Aversive racism is when people believe in racial equality and view themselves as nonprejudiced but have unconscious, negative beliefs about people of other races; in situations that make those negative beliefs salient, aversive racists try to avoid acting on them or express them in subtle ways

The central route is when people carefully and effortfully think about all of the information relevant to the merits of the situation

A class action case is a case that involves many plaintiffs who collectively form a "class" and who claim that they suffered similar injuries because of a defendant's actions

Defensive attribution is an explanation for behavior that enables people to deal with perceived inequities in others' lives and to avoid feelings of vulnerability

Defensive attribution is an explanation for behavior that enables people to deal with perceived inequities in others' lives and to avoid feelings of vulnerability

The dual process theory of attitude change is the theory that there are two different kinds of information-processing strategies or "routes" that people use to reach decisions

Evidentiary strength refers to the nature of the evidence regarding guilt in a legal proceeding and is probably the most important determinant of jurors' verdicts

Joinder is the combinig of multiple defendants or multiple charges in one trial

Juror bias is the tendency of any juror to evaluate the facts of the case such that the juror favors one side or the other

Jury nullification is an option for the jury that allows it to disregard both the law and the evidnecen and acquit the defendant if the jury believes that an acquittal is justified

Liable means responsibile or answerable for some action

Liberation hypothesis is the hypothesis that implies that when the strength of the evidence against a defendant is weak, jurors are free to rely on nonlegal information to inform their decisions

Outcome severity is the severity of an accident or injury

The peripheral route is when people utilize simple cus such as the mere presence of an expert or extraneous details to influence their judgments

Predesicional distortion is a phenomenon by which jurors' initial inclinations influence the way they interpret evidence presented during a trial

Primary effect refers to the influence of infomraiton that is presented first in a series

Propensity evidence is evidence of a defendant's past wrongdoings that suggest the defendant had the propensity or inclination to commit a crime

Psycholinguistics is the psychological study of how people use and understand language

Reactance theory is a theory that proposes that if something is denied or withheld from a person, the person's desire for it will increase

Recency effect is the influence of information that is presented last in a series

A schema is an individual's cognitive framework or set of preconceptions that helps that person attend to, organize and interpret relevant information

The story model is the notion that people construct a story or narrative summary of the events in a dispute

The sympothy hypothesis is the assumption that jurors' decisions will be influenced by feelings of sympathy

Thought suppression is the attempt to avoid thinking about something

About 150,000

About 2/3 of Americans have gone through jury duty while about 1/4 has actually served on a jury

Research has shown that if juries hear about someone's past criminal record and they are being either tried or sued for something now, they are much more likely to rule against the suspect/defendant when the verdict is decided

If they have a prior record, even a limiting instruction can go unheeded by the jury and that information may play into their decision

It has been overwhelmingly found that charges that are tried with other charges are more likely to be found guilty or at fault for that charges tried separately

Typically, character and propensity evidence can't be used in court due to potential formation of biases. However, in sex crimes, this is thrown out since past offenses of a sexual nature may indicate a tendency to commit similar offenses in the future

Juries decide whether or not the defendant is liable (or responsibile for the alleged issues) and whether the plantiff should receive damages (and how much)

Jurors should decide liability based on the conduct of the defendant

$28,000

4%

Jurors are more likely to disregard inadmissible evidence if the judge provides a reason for its inadmissibility. However, sometimes these instructions backfire and the jurors are more likely to consider inadmissible evidence. Jury deliberations can typically lessen the impact of such evidence

Sometimes, jurors lack the analytical skills necessary to truly decide the weight of expert testimony and therefore resort to peripheral processing to decide the weight of the testimony

Expert testimony will often entrance jurors and cause them to rely less and less on their own thoughts and judgments and will allow the expert to effectively think for them

No

 They found that instructions provided before the presentation of evidence actually resulted in higher abiding to the instructions than instructiosn presented after the evidence

Juries tend to rely on their feelings and sentiments and that they nullify the conditions only when the law seems unfair

1. The evidence can be too complex and difficult for the average person to understand 2. The information load can be excessive 3. Less capable jurors are left to decide the case due to voir dire

Jurors' ability to decide complex cases is often impaired by complex cases and critics have often said that the cases should be simplified in their presentations to the jury

The blank slate assumption is when courts assume that potential jurors can make unbiased decisions regarding cases but this is not true due to the influence of past events and experiences

Sometimes smypathy plays a role in the case but juror can even show downright hostility to the plantiff if the case presents itself as such

Awards from medical malpractice and product liability cases are typically much higher than damages from automobile accidents

They pay attention to pieces of information and evidence presented in a sort of story model; they use the pieces of evidence they need to construct their story while disregarding pieces that don't fit

1. Listing witnesses and summarizing their testimony in long or complex cases 2. Giving pre-trial or interim instructions during a lengthy trial 3. Allowing jurors to take notes 4. Giving jurors a writeen copy of the judge's instructions

1. The posing of questions by jurors; questions are screened by judges which are then passed on to the witness 2. Allow jurors to discuss evidence in the midst of a trial; some parties argue that this may encourage premature decision making on the part of jurors