Pretrial Publicity and Juror Perception of Defendant Culpability: Social Media Biasing the Right to a Fair Trial
| dc.contributor.author | Huckstepp, Andrew | |
| dc.contributor.school | School of Psychology | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019 | |
| dc.description | This item is only available electronically. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Pretrial publicity (PTP) of an upcoming court case through traditional media sources of print, television and radio have been demonstrated to bias juror decision-making and threaten fundamental judicial rights of impartiality and independence for defendants. Despite the now ubiquitous nature of digital media, little-to-no research has been conducted on the biasing effects of social media (Facebook™, Twitter™, YouTube™ etc.) PTP on juror decision making. Employing a 2*2 (and control group) experimental design, 131 participants read a mock-trial transcript and provided ratings of defendant culpability and confidence in verdict, with some participants exposed to PTP in the form of a Facebook post (pro-defendant or pro-defence slanted) and some exposed to a mock-judge’s admonishment against relying on extralegal social media PTP when reaching a verdict. Planned comparisons revealed no difference between the control, pro-prosecution PTP (instruction and no instruction) and pro-defence (instruction and no instruction) groups for guilt ratings and verdicts. Exploratory analysis revealed the presence of a potential overcorrection effect whereby pro-prosecution groups provided lessened guilt ratings compared to the pro-defence and control groups. Participant confidence in the legal system was not found to moderate PTP’s effects on guilt ratings. Implications of these findings for the psycho-legal context are discussed. | en |
| dc.description.dissertation | Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2019 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2440/128846 | |
| dc.provenance | This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the author of this thesis and do not wish it to be made publicly available, or you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals | |
| dc.subject | Honours; Psychology | en |
| dc.title | Pretrial Publicity and Juror Perception of Defendant Culpability: Social Media Biasing the Right to a Fair Trial | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
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