The Emotional Influence of Gruesome Photographs in the Courtroom

描述犯罪行为的视觉图像可以强烈影响对责任和惩罚的判断。在过去的十年中，法庭上使用视觉证据和论据的数量激增，但关于这些工具对法律的决策的影响的实证研究才刚刚开始。律师、法官和陪审团面临着一连串的图像，通常是可怕的。在决定是否排除可怕的照片时，法官必须决定偏见的影响是否超过其证明价值。这个项目解决了如何以及为什么可怕的照片增加有罪和惩罚的判决，以更好地告知法官的可受理性决定的法律相关问题。更具体地说，这个项目研究了情感唤起的图像如何通过使陪审员更容易定罪来构成不公平偏见的危险-即使图像没有提供额外的证明信息。这是通过探索可怕的照片对模拟陪审员的生理和情感反应的证据，注意其他案件的证据，和陪审团审议过程的影响。这项研究还将测试几种现实的和相对简单的法律的保障措施的有效性，这些措施可能会减轻可怕照片的偏见影响，而不会牺牲它们的证明信息（即，替代黑白白色照片、陪审团指示、审议）。其影响将超越法庭，为最近更广泛的社会问题提供信息，即公众是否应该接触到伤害的图形图像，以告知政策辩论，例如学校枪击事件，警察枪击事件或美国军事拘留者的酷刑图像。该项目汇集了一个跨学科团队，进行三个实验，测试观看可怕的照片是否会增加负面情绪，这反过来又会使陪审员的注意力偏向有利于起诉的其他案件证据，最终增加他们对有罪判决和更大惩罚的信心。符合陪审员资格的成年人将查看谋杀案审判中的证据，其中包括没有可怕的照片，B W可怕的照片，或谋杀受害者的彩色可怕照片，然后将对案件作出法律的判决。参与者的生理情绪反应将在整个过程中进行监测。这个项目代表了对法律的决策的可怕图像的第一次调查，其中包括陪审团级别的结果，生理监测，对其他证据的视觉关注，以及群体审议过程的动态。识别照片影响判断的特定心理机制（情绪反应、对其他证据的注意、审议过程）将通过澄清这些照片可能导致不公平偏见的情况，为法律的学说提供信息。

Visual images depicting a criminal act can strongly influence judgments about blame and punishment. In the past decade, the use of visual evidence and arguments in courtrooms has exploded, but empirical research on the effects of these tools on legal decision-making has just begun. Lawyers, judges, and juries are faced with a barrage of images, often gruesome in nature. When determining whether to exclude gruesome photographs, judges must decide whether the prejudicial effect outweighs their probative value. This project addresses the legally relevant question of how and why gruesome photographs increase guilt and punishment judgments to better inform judges' admissibility decisions. More specifically, this project examines how emotionally evocative images can pose a danger of unfair prejudice by making jurors more conviction-prone--even when the images do not provide additional probative information. This is achieved by exploring the effect of gruesome photographs on mock jurors' physiological and emotional response to the evidence, attention to other case evidence, and the jury deliberation process. The research will also test the effectiveness of several realistic and relatively simple legal safeguards that might mitigate the prejudicial effects of gruesome photographs without sacrificing their probative information (i.e., substituting black-and-white photographs, jury instructions, deliberation). The implications will extend beyond courtrooms to inform recent broader societal questions about whether the public should be exposed to graphic images of harm to inform policy debates, such as images of school shootings, police shootings, or torture of U.S. military detainees.This project brings together an interdisciplinary team to conduct three experiments testing whether viewing gruesome photographs increases negative emotion, which in turn biases jurors' attention to other case evidence in a pro-prosecution direction, which ultimately increases their confidence in a guilty verdict and greater punitiveness. Jury-eligible adults will view evidence from a murder trial that includes either no gruesome photographs, B&W gruesome photographs, or color gruesome photographs of the murder victim and then will make legal judgments about the case. Participants' physiological emotional responses will be monitored throughout the process. This project represents the first investigation of gruesome images on legal decision making that incorporates jury-level outcomes, physiological monitoring, visual attention to other evidence, and the dynamics of the group deliberation process. Identifying specific psychological mechanisms by which photographs influence judgments (emotional responses, attention to other evidence, deliberation processes) will inform legal doctrine by clarifying the circumstances under which these photographs are likely to result in unfair prejudice.