Ebook: How Pretrial Publicity Affects Juror Decision Making and Memory

Pretrial publicity (PTP) has been found to have a biasing effect on jury decision making. This chapter explores how research and theory in cognitive psychology has been used to examine the mechanisms responsible for PTP's biasing effects on jury decisions. This research can assist the courts in finding effective remedies for PTP bias. This research suggests that jury deliberations can increase (polarize) juror bias and therefore, cannot be counted on to remedy the effect of PTP on jury decision making. This book also reviews research and theory examining whether memory errors (e.g., source misattributions) and biases of individual jurors are likely to be corrected by jury members during deliberations.