Understanding the Impact on Juries of Defense Responses to Victim Impact Statements

这一系列的研究探讨了死刑审判中受害者影响陈述（维斯）对陪审团的影响，以及被告可能使用的措施，以反驳此类证据。通过影响证据，允许受害者在死刑和非死刑审判中就犯罪造成的伤害作证。本研究的第一个目的是探讨陪审员面对维斯时的认知和情感过程。经验证据表明，纳入维斯会使重点远离事实，并倾向于使决策在本质上更加情绪化。这有可能使陪审团倾向于死亡，但所涉及的过程尚不清楚。我们将具体研究悲伤和愤怒对死刑判决的不同影响。 第二个目的是确定被告可能做出的潜在反应的效果，以平衡维斯的情感影响。 法律的学者建议列入执行影响证据，这在程序上类似于维斯，但由被告提供。这一系列的研究探讨在何种程度上EIE和被告悔恨，作为主持被告的社会地位和被告的影响，对抗的影响，维斯的决策。 研究1考察了模拟陪审员对维斯与EIE的情绪基调变化的判断效果。研究2比较了不同的影响，个别模拟陪审员的EIE中，被告承担不同程度的责任和承诺 研究3考察了研究1和研究2中最强有力的发现对陪审团审议的影响。这项研究涉及在刑事司法系统大力倡导受害者权利的当前环境中出现的有争议的问题。对许多人认为有利于受害者的系统的重新平衡的关注已经对受害者的参与产生了某些期望，有些人认为这是不现实的，同时，根据一些批评者的说法，取消了对被告的重要保护。对受害者权利的强调提出了一些问题，如维斯对陪审员的决定有多大影响，维斯如何影响陪审员，以及被告是否有任何有效的回应手段。目前的研究计划的目标是努力对受害者的影响陈述和辩护反应的理解，以确定在何种程度上，目前的程序导致在理性处理的证据，而不是情感驱动的决策。通过这项研究，我们可以更接近回答问题的影响程度受害者的影响陈述的决策，这种影响的性质，以及被告的反应受害者的影响陈述的性质和功效。

This series of studies examines the effect on juries of victim impact statements (VIS) in capital sentencing trials and the measures a defendant may use in order to counter such evidence. Through impact evidence, victims are permitted to testify in both capital and non-capital trials about the harm experienced as a result of the crime. The first purpose of the proposed studies is to determine the cognitive and affective processes involved when jurors are presented with a VIS. Empirical evidence shows that the inclusion of a VIS moves the focus away from the facts and tends to make decision making more emotional in nature. This has the potential of moving the jury in favor of death, but the processes involved are unclear. We will specifically examine the differential impact of sadness and anger on sentencing in a capital trial. The second purpose is to determine the effect of potential responses a defendant may make in order to balance the emotional impact of a VIS. Legal scholars have recommended the inclusion of execution impact evidence (EIE) which is procedurally similar to a VIS, but offered by the defense. This series of studies examines the extent to which EIE and defendant remorse, as moderated by the defendant's social standing and defendant affect, counter the impact of the VIS on decision making. Study 1 examines the effect on individual mock jurors' judgments of variations in the emotional tone of VIS's versus EIEs. Study 2 compares differences in the impact on individual mock jurors of EIEs in which a defendant assumes varying degrees of responsibility and contrition Study 3 examines the impact on jury deliberations of the strongest findings from Studies 1 and 2. This research addresses controversial issues emerging from the current environment in which victims' rights are strongly advocated in the criminal justice system. The focus on what many consider a rebalancing of the system in favor of the victim has created certain expectations about victim participation that some consider unrealistic and at the same time has, according to some critics, dismantled important protections for defendants. The emphasis given to victims' rights raises questions surrounding how much influence VIS's have on juror decision making, how VIS's influence jurors, and whether defendants are left with any effective means of responding. The goal of the current research program is to work toward an understanding of victim impact statements and defense responses in order to determine the extent to which current procedures result in rational processing of the evidence as opposed to affectively-driven decision making. Through this research we can come closer to answering questions about the extent of influence of victim impact statements on decision making, the nature of this influence, and the nature and efficacy of defendant responses to victim impact statements.