Citation

Gagné J, Earls CM. Can. J. Behav. Sci. 2010; 42(4): 247-253.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Canadian Psychological Association, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1037/a0015582

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The impact of salience and the effect of crime seriousness on juror's decision were examined together since both variables have been studied separately before. Previous research concluded that emotional stimuli (salience) have an impact on legal judgment. Moreover, the more serious the crime is perceived, greater are the assessments of guilt. A total of six groups of participants (n = 20 per group) assessed a crime description that varied from a nonserious offence (vandalism), to a more serious offence (arson), to a very serious offence (murder). Half of the descriptions were considered salient while the other half were non salient. The perception of crime seriousness was positively correlated with the judgement of guilt. The effect of salience and the degree of crime seriousness both have an influence on the judgement of guilt. The results were discussed in terms of their possible influence on the justice system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Keywords

Crime; Guilt; Juries; Legal Decisions; Legal Evidence