Testing the Impact of Race on Jury Evaluations of Informants

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，通常是为了换取宽大处理或对悬而未决的刑事指控予以解雇。尽管越来越令人担忧，但关于使用告密者作为证人的实证研究很少。这项研究建立在关于告密者证词的新的研究路线上，通过检查告密者的种族以及被告的种族是否以及如何影响外行人在模拟陪审团环境中对可信度、罪责和责任感的评估。通过衡量个人和群体层面的认知和行动，该项目测试种族主义如何在群体层面的判决背景下出现和阐述，以及案件执行人的种族如何与陪审员的种族认同相互作用。在此范围内，该研究将检查对告密者证词的认知反应和更多基于情感的反应。拟议的研究有可能产生及时和重要的更广泛的影响。它将告知有关使用告密者的政策，以及外行人对告密者证据的评估是否因这些证人的种族身份而加剧了有案可查的问题。因此，它有可能解决在毒品案件起诉中严重依赖告密者而产生的实际程序问题。更广泛的影响还包括对研究生和本科生的培训和教育。这项研究使用了一个实验设计，其中被告(非裔美国人或白人)的种族和告密者证人(非裔美国人或白人)的种族是不同的，创建了四个版本的联邦毒品阴谋审判的视听演示，其中包括告密者的证词。符合评审团资格的非学生成人参与者将被招募并分配到140个小组“陪审团”中。每个陪审团小组将观看审判的四个版本中的一个，然后将审议以确定裁决。这些审议将被记录下来，以分析集体决策过程。在做出判决后，参与者将单独完成一套关于决策过程、感知和态度的全面测量。这项研究要回答的主要研究问题是：1)非裔美国人被告比白人被告更有可能被判有罪？2)白人举报人的可信度评分是否高于非裔美国人举报人的可信度评分？3)作为差异同理心的函数，非裔美国人被告定罪的可信度“门槛”是否低于白人被告？4)群体审议过程是否会放大种族偏见，就像之前关于死刑决策的研究所证明的那样？5)告密者/被告种族的影响是否会受到陪审员种族和性别的影响？

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?