The Emotional Influence of Gruesome Photographs in the Courtroom

描绘犯罪行为的视觉图像可以强烈地影响对责罚的判断。在过去的十年里，法庭上视觉证据和辩论的使用呈爆炸式增长，但关于这些工具对法律决策影响的实证研究才刚刚开始。律师、法官和陪审团面对的是一连串的画面，这些画面的性质往往很可怕。在决定是否排除令人毛骨悚然的照片时，法官必须决定偏见影响是否超过它们的证明价值。该项目解决了与法律相关的问题，即可怕的照片如何以及为什么会增加对有罪和处罚的判决，以更好地为法官的受理决定提供信息。更具体地说，这个项目考察了情感唤起的图像如何通过使陪审员更容易被定罪而构成不公平偏见的危险--即使这些图像没有提供额外的证明性信息。这是通过探索可怕的照片对模拟陪审员对证据的生理和情感反应、对其他案件证据的关注以及陪审团审议过程的影响来实现的。这项研究还将测试几种现实而相对简单的法律保障措施的有效性，这些保障措施可能会在不牺牲照片的证明性信息的情况下减轻可怕照片的偏见影响(即，替换黑白照片、陪审团指示、审议)。该项目的影响将超越法庭，为最近更广泛的社会问题提供信息，即公众是否应该接触伤害的图形图像，为政策辩论提供信息，例如校园枪击、警察枪击或对美国军事囚犯的酷刑。该项目汇集了一个跨学科团队进行三项实验，以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将注意力转向有利于起诉的其他案件证据，这最终会增加他们对有罪判决的信心和更大的惩罚性。符合陪审团资格的成年人将看到谋杀案审判中的证据，其中包括没有可怕的照片、黑白可怕的照片或谋杀受害者的彩色可怕照片，然后将对此案做出法律判决。参与者的生理情绪反应将在整个过程中得到监测。这个项目代表了对法律决策可怕图像的首次调查，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集体审议过程的动态。确定照片影响判断的具体心理机制(情绪反应、对其他证据的关注、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而为法律原则提供信息。

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.