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Guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Effects of concept definition and assigned decision rule on the judgments of mock jurors.

Kerr, Norbert L., Robert S., Atkin, Garold, Stasser, David, Meek, Robert W., Holt, James H., Davis (1976) Guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Effects of concept definition and assigned decision rule on the judgments of mock jurors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34 (2). pp. 282-294. ISSN 0022-3514. (doi:10.1037/0022-3514.34.2.282) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:42560)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.34.2.282

Abstract

Examined the concept of reasonable doubt as both an individual and group decision criterion. Previous research indicates that neither criterion has an effect on verdicts. A reexamination of this research suggested that such effects might occur for cases producing maximum disagreement. An experiment was performed in which 606 mock jurors reached individual and group verdicts for such a case. The decision criteria for individuals (judge's definition of reasonable doubt) and groups (assigned decision rule) were varied in a factorial design. As predicted, mock juries assigned a unanimity decision rule were significantly less likely to reach a verdict than juries assigned a majority rule. Minority members of juries assigned a majority decision rule were particularly dissatisfied with group deliberation. Definitional variations in reasonable doubt significantly affected both individual and group verdicts. The effects of the independent variables for the group decision-making process were also examined using a model-fitting approach to J. H. Davis's.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1037/0022-3514.34.2.282
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: M.L. Barnoux
Date Deposited: 21 Aug 2014 11:57 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:16 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/42560 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Kerr, Norbert L..

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