Wrongful Conviction Documentaries: Influences of Crime Media Exposure on Mock Juror Decision-Making
type: CreativeWork
description: Psychology and law researchers have urged colleagues to collaborate with the makers of popular media, such as documentary filmmakers, in efforts to educate the general public about wrongful convictions (Kassin, 2017; Wells et al., 2000). Recently, programs depicting wrongful convictions, such as Making a Murderer (Demos & Ricciardi, 2015) and When They See Us (DuVernay, 2019) have garnered substantial viewership. Research on general and case-specific pretrial publicity (Daftary-Kapur et al., 2014; Kovera, 2002) and the effects of crime media (Baskin & Sommers, 2010; Schweitzer & Saks, 2007) demonstrate that although consuming crime-related media and being exposed to information about a criminal trial can influence jurors’ attitudes, these effects do not always translate into informed case decisions (Holmgren & Fordham, 2011; Kim et al., 2009). This research aimed to answer the following question: does exposure to commentary on the risk factors of wrongful conviction, such as eyewitness errors and false confessions, lead viewers to become more discriminating as jurors, voting to convict when the primary evidence contains little empirical risk, while voting to acquit when that evidence contains significant empirical risk? In an online study, I examined the effects of both naturalistic and experimental exposure to wrongful conviction-related media. People who reported having never watched or listened to at least one popular wrongful conviction show or podcast (naïve participants) were randomly assigned to watch one of three documentary-style videos. Two of these videos included descriptions of real cases that involved either a false confession or eyewitness misidentification with research psychologists explaining the risk factors involved in each case. The third group watched an unrelated control video and the fourth group reported having been exposed to wrongful conviction media naturally. All participants were presented with one of four versions of a murder case summ…
abstract: Psychology and law researchers have urged colleagues to collaborate with the makers of popular media, such as documentary filmmakers, in efforts to educate the general public about wrongful convictions (Kassin, 2017; Wells et al., 2000). Recently, programs depicting wrongful convictions, such as Making a Murderer (Demos & Ricciardi, 2015) and When They See Us (DuVernay, 2019) have garnered substantial viewership. Research on general and case-specific pretrial publicity (Daftary-Kapur et al., 2014; Kovera, 2002) and the effects of crime media (Baskin & Sommers, 2010; Schweitzer & Saks, 2007) demonstrate that although consuming crime-related media and being exposed to information about a criminal trial can influence jurors’ attitudes, these effects do not always translate into informed case decisions (Holmgren & Fordham, 2011; Kim et al., 2009). This research aimed to answer the following question: does exposure to commentary on the risk factors of wrongful conviction, such as eyewitness errors and false confessions, lead viewers to become more discriminating as jurors, voting to convict when the primary evidence contains little empirical risk, while voting to acquit when that evidence contains significant empirical risk? In an online study, I examined the effects of both naturalistic and experimental exposure to wrongful conviction-related media. People who reported having never watched or listened to at least one popular wrongful conviction show or podcast (naïve participants) were randomly assigned to watch one of three documentary-style videos. Two of these videos included descriptions of real cases that involved either a false confession or eyewitness misidentification with research psychologists explaining the risk factors involved in each case. The third group watched an unrelated control video and the fourth group reported having been exposed to wrongful conviction media naturally. All participants were presented with one of four versions of a murder case summ…
author: Sanchez, Patricia Y
keywords: Criminology and Criminal Justice, Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Law and Psychology, Other Film and Media Studies, Other Psychology
date published: 2020-09-01T07:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:59:54Z
provider: City University of New York - Graduate Center
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York