Influence of Media on Jurors in Terror Trials - Essay Example

The first hypothesis was supported in that political media exposure resulted in higher confidence ratings of guilt. There has been relatively little empirical research into the specific topics of juror bias towards terror suspects and the impact of media coverage of the trial of a terrorist on juror bias. The research regarding these variables has investigated Anglo-American and African-American ethnic biases (Abshire & Bornstein, 2003; Sommers & Ellsworth, 2001). This type of ethnic bias can be linked to other ethnic biases including against the ethnic group of a terror suspect.

An examination of the cross-race effect in jurors at a mock trial of African-American defendant found that Anglo-American jurors were more likely to find the defendant guilty than African-American jurors (Abshire & Bornstein, 2003). There was a significant difference in the perceived credibility of eyewitnesses based on the ethnicity of the witness, with African-American eyewitnesses viewed as more credible than Anglo-American eyewitnesses. Nonetheless, the testimony of the eyewitnesses did not have an impact on the verdict, with Anglo-American jurors tending to perceive prosecution witnesses as more credible and African-American jurors tending to perceive defense witnesses as more credible. . Another study of mock jurors found that modern Anglo-American jurors were more likely to demonstrate bias against an African-American defendant accused of committing a crime against an Anglo-American victim when the issues associated with the trial were not blatantly racial (Sommers & Ellsworth, 2001).

The conclusion developed from this finding suggests that the modern attitudes against racial bias tend to create a greater degree of impartiality when the crime involves racial issues, but the attitude does not fully prevent bias. Strategies for reducing the impact of bias include insuring that juries are ethnically mixed and asking potential jurors about racial attitudes during voir dire. An investigation into the relationship between juror ethnicity and defendant ethnicity and for receptivity to mitigating evidence in capital cases, found a strong correlation for receptivity among African-American jurors when the defendant was African-American and the victim was Anglo-American (Brewer, 2004).

The implications of these findings may be that jurors of different ethnicities tend to be equally receptive to mitigating evidence in capital cases in the majority of cases. When the case involves an in-group defendant that has committed a crime against an out-group victim, however, there is increased receptivity to mitigating evidence by jurors that are members of the in-group (Brewer, 2004). Hence, findings suggest that there is some degree of ethnic identification that occurs between jurors and defendants based on the ethnicity of the defendant and the victim.

Related to the issue of juror perceptions based on the ethnicity of the defendant, are the reactions and explanations of individuals to terrorist attacks, these have the potential to influence juror attitudes