Testing the Impact of Race on Jury Evaluations of Informants

已经出现了一个重要的法律学术机构，研究与使用线人有关的司法风险，线人向执法官员提供有关犯罪活动的信息，通常是为了换取对未决刑事指控的宽大处理或解雇。尽管日益引起关注，但很少有关于利用线人作为证人的实证研究。本研究建立在关于举报人证词的新兴研究的基础上，研究了在模拟陪审团环境下，举报人的种族以及被告的种族是否以及如何影响外行人对可信度、罪责和罪责的评估。通过测量个人层面和群体层面的认知和行动，该项目测试了种族主义如何在群体层面的判断语境中产生和阐述，以及案件行动者的种族如何与陪审员的种族身份相互作用。在此范围内，该研究将检查对线人证词的认知和更基于情感的反应。拟议的研究有可能产生及时和重要的更广泛的影响。它将为有关使用举报人的政策提供信息，以及这些证人的种族身份是否加剧了外行人对举报人证据的评估方面的记录问题。因此，它有可能解决毒品案件起诉中严重依赖线人而产生的实际程序问题。更广泛的影响还包括研究生和本科生的培训和教育。这项研究采用了一种实验设计，其中被告的种族（非裔美国人或白人）和举报人证人的种族（非裔美国人或白人）是不同的，创造了四种版本的视听展示联邦毒品阴谋审判，其中包括举报人的证词。评审团资格的非学生成年参与者将被招募并分配到140个小组“评审团”。每个陪审团小组将观看四个版本的审判中的一个，然后将审议决定判决。这些讨论将被记录下来，以分析集团决策过程。在做出裁决后，参与者将单独完成一套关于决策过程、看法和态度的综合措施。在这项研究中要回答的主要研究问题是：1)非裔美国被告比白人被告更容易被判有罪吗？2)白人线人的可信度评分是否高于非裔美国人线人？3)非裔美国被告的定罪可信度“门槛”是否低于白人被告，这是不同同理心的作用？4)群体审议过程是否会放大种族偏见，正如之前关于死刑决策的研究所证明的那样？5)陪审员的种族和性别是否会缓和举报人/被告种族的影响？

An important body of legal scholarship has emerged about the justice risks associated with the use of informants, who provide information to law enforcement officials about criminal activity usually in exchange for leniency consideration or dismissal on a pending criminal charge. Despite the increasing concern, there has been very little empirical research on the use of informants as witnesses. This study builds on the nascent line of research about informant testimony by examining whether and how the race of the informant, as well as the race of the defendant, impacts laypersons' assessments of credibility, culpability, and blame-worthiness in a simulated jury setting. By measuring both individual-level and group-level cognition and action, the project tests how racism emerges and is elaborated in group-level judgment contexts, and how the race of case actors interacts with jurors' racial identity. Within that, the study will examine both the cognitive and more emotionally-based responses to informant testimony. The proposed research has the potential to generate timely and important broader impacts. It will inform policy regarding the use of informants and whether the documented problems with laypersons' assessments of informant evidence are exacerbated by the racial identify of those witness. As such, it has the potential to address real-word procedural issues that come from heavy reliance upon informants in drug case prosecutions. The broader impacts also include training and education of graduate and undergraduate students. The study uses an experimental design, in which the race of defendant (African-American or white) and race of informant witness (African-American or white) is varied, creating four versions of an audio-visual presentation of a federal drug conspiracy trial that includes testimony by an informant. Jury-eligible, non-student adult participants will be recruited and assigned to 140 small group "juries." Each jury group will view one of the four versions of the trial and will then deliberate to determine a verdict. Those deliberations will be recorded to analyze the group decision-making process. After the verdict is rendered, participants will individually complete a comprehensive set of measures regarding decision-making processes, perceptions, and attitudes. The main research questions to be answered in this study are: 1) Is an African-American defendant more likely to be found guilty than a white defendant? 2) Are the credibility ratings for a white informant higher than for an African-American informant? 3) Is the credibility "threshold" for conviction lower for an African-American defendant than for a white defendant, as a function of differential empathy? 4) Will the group deliberation process amplify racial bias, as has been demonstrated in previous research on death penalty decision-making? And 5) Will the effects of informant/defendant race be moderated by juror race and gender?