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Advances in Psychology and Law pp 55–93Cite as

The Impact of Emotions on Juror Judgments and Decision-Making

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Part of the book series: Advances in Psychology and Law ((APL,volume 2))

Abstract

Emotions have not received a great deal of attention among psycholegal researchers, but interest in this area has grown during the past decade. In this chapter, the role of emotions in juror decision making is examined. In the first section of the chapter, the focus is on the basic theories surrounding emotions and judgments, as well as the degree to which the general theories of emotions and decision making are relevant to decisions made in the courtroom. Next, trial factors that may prompt specific emotional reactions from jurors are explored. In the third section of the chapter, psycholegal research that has examined the effect of jurors’ emotions on the decisions they make during trial is discussed. In the fourth section, potential moderators that might alter the relation between emotions and decisions are explored. Last, the limitations of the psycholegal research and the legal implications of the research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In support of this, Feigenson (2010) notes the proliferation of victim impact videos. Here a slide show of the victim’s life, in some instances accompanied by emotionally evocative music, is presented to jurors—in both criminal and civil cases but most often in wrongful death cases. To date, the effects of these emotionally stirring videos on juror decision making have not been empirically tested. However, with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelly v. California (2008), which upheld the constitutionality of these videos in capital sentencing proceedings, victim impact videos remain admissible in court. As such, the frequency with which they are used during trial may ultimately increase.

  2. 2.

    There is ample evidence that jurors find it difficult to disregard inadmissible evidence (Steblay et al. 2006). But see our extended discussion of this problem in our discussion of jury deliberations at the end of this section.

  3. 3.

    We would argue that other jury research has also ignored deliberations (see for example, Nuñez et al. 2011), but it is particularly true of the emotions/legal decision making research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Narina Nunez, Victoria Estrada-Reynolds & Kimberly Schweitzer

  2. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina – Wilmington, Teaching Laboratory Building, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403-5612, USA

    Bryan Myers

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  3. Kimberly Schweitzer
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Correspondence to Narina Nunez .

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

    Brian H. Bornstein

  2. Criminal Justice Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA

    Monica K. Miller

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Nunez, N., Estrada-Reynolds, V., Schweitzer, K., Myers, B. (2016). The Impact of Emotions on Juror Judgments and Decision-Making. In: Bornstein, B., Miller, M. (eds) Advances in Psychology and Law. Advances in Psychology and Law, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43083-6_3

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