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指责和惩罚的判断。在过去的十年里，在法庭上使用视觉证据和辩论的情况呈爆炸式增长，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、法官和陪审团面临着大量的图像，往往是令人毛骨悚然的。在决定是否排除令人毛骨悚然的照片时，法官必须决定偏见的影响是否超过了它们的证据价值。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有罪和惩罚的判决，从而更好地为法官的可采性决定提供信息。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据信息。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的和相对简单的法律保障措施的有效性，这些措施可能会减轻可怕照片的偏见影响，而不牺牲其证据信息（即替代黑白照片、陪审团指示、审议）。其影响将延伸到法庭之外，以反映最近更广泛的社会问题，即公众是否应该接触到伤害的图形图像，以便为政策辩论提供信息，例如学校枪击事件、警察枪击事件或美国军事拘留者遭受酷刑的图像。这个项目汇集了一个跨学科的团队，进行了三个实验，测试观看可怕的照片是否会增加负面情绪，从而使陪审员对其他案件证据的注意力偏向于支持起诉的方向，最终增加他们对有罪判决和更大惩罚的信心。符合陪审团资格的成年人将观看谋杀审判的证据，这些证据要么是没有可怕的照片，要么是令人毛骨悚然的照片，或者是谋杀受害者的彩色可怕照片，然后对案件做出法律判断。在整个过程中，参与者的生理情绪反应将被监测。该项目代表了对法律决策中可怕图像的首次调查，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。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，为法律理论提供信息。

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.