Date of Award

Spring 2015

Project Type

Dissertation

Program or Major

Psychology

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

First Advisor

Ellen S Cohn

Second Advisor

Rebecca Warner

Third Advisor

Cesar J Rebellon

Abstract

Verdict decisions can have potentially severe consequences for defendants including incarceration or even capital punishment. Previous researchers have identified many factors that can influence these decisions. One of the most influential aspects of juror decisions identified by researchers is witness testimony; however, there has been little empirical research on police officers as witnesses. Jurors may have pre-existing attitudes about the police that may influence how they view police officer witnesses on the stand. Furthermore, special rules govern the admission of credibility evidence against a police officer witness in the state of New Hampshire. The purpose of the study was threefold: the first purpose was to determine if there was an effect of witness type (lay, police officer) on juror decisions; the second purpose was to determine if there was an effect of police officer eyewitness reputation manipulation (good, bad, control) on evaluations of the eyewitness and juror decisions; and the third purpose was to examine the role of the procedural justice model of legal socialization on juror decisions. Results indicated that participants presented with a lay eyewitness were significantly more likely to render a guilty verdict than participants presented with a police officer eyewitness. Furthermore, participants presented with a police officer eyewitness with a good reputation or a police officer eyewitness with no reputation information provided were significantly more likely to acquit the defendant than participants presented with a police officer eyewitness with a bad reputation. These effects only emerged following group deliberation suggesting an effect of group discussion of the case. Results also provided partial support for the procedural justice model of legal socialization in predicting juror decisions. The findings from the current study advance the existing eyewitness research to include police officers as eyewitnesses and have policy implications for the rules governing police officer witnesses in the state of New Hampshire.

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