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

本系列研究考察了死刑判决审判中受害者影响陈述（VIS）对陪审团的影响，以及被告可能使用的措施，以反驳这些证据。通过冲击证据，受害者被允许在死刑和非死刑审判中就犯罪所造成的伤害作证。提出的研究的第一个目的是确定当陪审员被呈现VIS时所涉及的认知和情感过程。经验证据表明，VIS的包含将焦点从事实中移开，并倾向于使决策更情绪化。这有可能使陪审团倾向于判处死刑，但涉及的过程尚不清楚。我们将特别研究在死刑审判中悲伤和愤怒对判决的不同影响。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VIS的情感影响。法律学者建议纳入执行影响证据（EIE），这在程序上类似于VIS，但由被告提供。这一系列的研究考察了EIE和被告懊悔在被告的社会地位和被告影响的调节下，在多大程度上抵消了VIS对决策的影响。研究1检验了VIS和EIEs的情绪基调变化对个体模拟陪审员判断的影响。研究2比较了在被告承担不同程度的责任和悔罪的情况下，EIEs对个体模拟陪审员影响的差异。研究3检验了研究1和研究2中最有力的发现对陪审团审议的影响。这项研究解决了在刑事司法系统中大力倡导受害者权利的当前环境中出现的有争议的问题。许多人认为这是对有利于受害者的司法体系的再平衡，这种关注造成了对受害者参与的某些期望，有些人认为这是不现实的，同时，根据一些批评人士的说法，这破坏了对被告的重要保护。对受害者权利的强调提出了以下问题：VIS对陪审员决策的影响有多大，VIS如何影响陪审员，以及被告是否有任何有效的回应手段。当前研究项目的目标是努力理解受害者的影响陈述和辩护反应，以确定目前的程序在多大程度上导致了对证据的理性处理，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有关受害者影响陈述对决策的影响程度，这种影响的性质，以及被告对受害者影响陈述的反应的性质和效力的问题。

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.