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

这一系列研究考察了死刑量刑审判中受害者影响陈述(VIS)对陪审团的影响，以及被告为反驳此类证据可能使用的措施。通过影响证据，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。这项研究的第一个目的是确定陪审员在面对VIS时所涉及的认知和情感过程。经验证据表明，VIS的加入转移了人们对事实的关注，并倾向于使决策本质上更情绪化。这有可能让陪审团倾向于死刑，但涉及的过程尚不清楚。我们将具体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影响，以平衡VIS的情感影响。法律学者建议纳入执行影响证据(EIE)，该证据在程序上类似于VIS，但由辩方提供。这一系列研究考察了EIE和被告悔恨在多大程度上受到被告的社会地位和被告影响的调节，以抵消VIS对决策的影响。研究一考察了VIS与EIES在情绪基调上的变化对模拟陪审员个体判断的影响。第二项研究比较了被告承担不同程度的责任和悔罪对个别模拟陪审员的影响的差异。第三项研究考察了第一项和第二项研究中最有力的结论对陪审团审议的影响。这项研究解决了当前刑事司法系统大力倡导受害者权利的环境中出现的有争议的问题。在许多人看来，对制度重新平衡的关注有利于受害者，这让人们对受害者参与产生了一定的期望，一些人认为这是不现实的，同时，一些批评人士认为，这也破坏了对被告的重要保护。对受害者权利的重视引发了一些问题，比如VIS对陪审员决策的影响力有多大，VIS对陪审员的影响力有多大，以及被告是否有任何有效的回应手段。当前研究计划的目标是努力了解受害者的影响陈述和辩护反应，以确定当前程序在多大程度上导致对证据的合理处理，而不是情感驱动的决策制定。通过这项研究，我们可以更接近于回答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回应的性质和有效性等问题。

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.