The effects of pre- and post-venire publicity on juror decision-making

Given the proliferation of the media in everyday life, finding jurors who have not been exposed to potentially biasing pretrial publicity (PTP) is somewhat of a challenge, especially in high profile cases. This has long been recognized by the courts, but some question the effectiveness of the remedies that have been put in place. Over the past 45 years, psychologists have studied these effects to understand whether and how PTP influences juror decision making. This research has shown that PTP effects do indeed exist and can jeopardize the defendant's right to a fair an impartial trial. At the same time, some have questioned the methodological rigor of these studies and their applicability to the trial setting. Additionally, some important questions remain, specifically the durability of PTP effects, the influence of quantity and type of PTP (pro-prosecution vs. pro-defense), the medium of exposure (print vs. television), and the influence of mid-trial publicity.;This study was designed to address these questions by investigating the influence of pre- and post-venire publicity on juror decision making. The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the durability of PTP effects, (2) to examine the influence of pro-prosecution and pro-defense PTP on decision making, (3) to examine the influence of natural vs. experimentally manipulated PTP, (4) to examine the influence of amount of PTP exposure on decision making, (5) to examine the influence of medium of PTP, (6) to examine the influence of post-venire publicity, and (7) to add to the external validity of PTP effects. It was proposed that depending on the media slant jurors are exposed to -- a pro-prosecution slant or a pro-defense slant -- their perceptions and inferences will be distorted in the direction of the favored party. This has significant legal implications as many news media sources are substantially biased in one direction or the other and this exposure could influence decision making.;The results revealed that participants were significantly influenced by the slant of the PTP they were exposed to. Specifically, participants in the pro-defense condition were more likely to render not guilty verdicts as compared to those in the pro-prosecution condition, and this effect lasted throughout the duration of the trial. Additionally PTP exposure significantly distorted participants' perceptions of witnesses at all points in the trial. Secondly, a finding of no significant difference of the effect of exposure slant between the naturally exposed, and experimentally exposed samples provide support for the external validity of laboratory studies examining PTP effects. In addition, quantity of PTP influenced decision making, such that those exposed to greater quantities of PTP tended to be more biased. Finally, medium of PTP and post-venire publicity exposure had no significant influence on decision making. Results provide support for the pervasive and persistent nature of PTP effects on juror decision making.