| The present study examined the possibility of the Hot Topic Effect: any situation in which a juror, having been exposed to media reports of similar cases, overestimates the extent to which a defendant's actions are part of a larger epidemic, leading to more punitive judgments against the defendant. Prior to reading a trial summary (assault or arson) student participants read an article from the front page of a fictitious newspaper. The newspaper article presented one of five levels of pretrial publicity: (1) news coverage of the current case, (2) news coverage of a similar case, (3) news coverage of both cases, (4) news coverage of both cases, with information suggesting the type of crime has become more common, and (5) media coverage of a dissimilar case (control group). After reading the newspaper article and trial summary, mock jurors completed a questionnaire designed to assess their reaction to the case. It was predicted that the first four conditions would produce higher conviction rates, guilt ratings, and longer prison sentence recommendations than the control group, and that mock jurors in condition 4 would record the highest guilt ratings, conviction rates, and sentence recommendations. The results did not support these hypotheses. Even when the newspaper article informed participants that the type of crime was becoming a problem in society, theses participants did not treat the defendant more punitively than participants in the control group. Possible reasons for these null results, including methodological considerations, are discussed.;Keywords. General Pretrial Publicity, Juror Decision Making, Media, Law, Hot Topic Effect... |
