| This study examined the impact of jury selection question format on mock jurors' verdicts and case evaluations. Participants publicly or privately responded to close-ended or reflective questions before reading a trial summary of a Black defendant charged auto-theft. Results, although not always statistically significant, suggest that reflective questioning may reduce bias toward Black defendants, especially when administered publicly. Moreover, Attitudes Toward Blacks (Brigham, 1993) and Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998) predicted verdicts and case evaluations and moderated the relation between response domain and decisions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the effectiveness of current jury selection procedures. |
