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The Effect of Defendant Facial Expression on Mock Juror Decision-Making: The Power of Remorse

2009; Volume: 11; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

1527-7143

M. Kimberly MacLin, Corynn Downs, Otto H. MacLin, Heather M. Caspers,

Deception detection and forensic psychology

In the U.S. legal system, juries are charged with the responsibility to decide if a person is guilty and sometimes to determine a sentence or damage awards. This task involves complex cognitive skills to weigh evidence, deliberate, and come to a conclusion. However, jurors may be impacted by factors beyond the evidence. One factor that we are interested in is the facial expression of the defendant. We experimentally manipulated the display of remorse and anger in defendant photographs to assess the impact on decision-making by mock jurors. A significant difference was found such that a remorseful defendant resulted in more lenient verdicts compared to an angry defendant. Headlines abound recounting how jurors, court personnel, and families are amazed, disgusted, and hurt that a particular defendant ‘showed no remorse.’ Of course, remorse does nothing to change the end result; the crime cannot be undone. However, we have a sense that remorse is owed to us, and the lack of it is strong evidence of a person’s guilt, or at least, despicable character. In the U.S. legal system, juries are charged with the responsibility of deciding if a person is guilty and to determine a sentence or damage awards. This task involves complex cognitive skills to weigh evidence, deliberate, and come to a conclusion. Extralegal factors impact this process. Attractiveness of the defendant (Landy & Aronson, 1969; Sigall & Ostrove, 1975), similarity of the defendant to jurors (Byrne & Clore, 1970), and the likeability of the defendant (Davis, Bray, & Holt, 1977) are some of the factors that have been shown to affect jury decisions. One particular factor that we are interested in is facial expressions displayed by the defendant. Regardless of guilt, the defendant’s emotions may include anger over current circumstances, remorse (for having committed the crime, or for having been caught), fear, disgust, and frustration, among others. These emotional experiences are likely to be displayed on the face. These expressions may have an impact on jury decision making and prove to be a mitigating factor (Ward, 2003). In a courtroom setting, anger is also an