Decisions of popular juries: what can they be influenced by?

The decisions of the juries They represent a crucial moment in the judicial system: the decision of ordinary people can determine the legal destiny of a defendant. In Italy, the popular jury It is a judgmental body composed of citizens extracted by lot, flanked by toga judges, called to pronounce in the processes for the most serious crimes. It operates within the Court of Assizes and of the Court of Assizes of Appealaccording to the provisions of the criminal procedure code. There are many psychological factors And social which can influence the decision -making process of juries, among these thesocial influence, the prejudices And stereotypes, there presentation of the tests and the Dynamics of the group inside the jury. There social psychologyin particular, has studied these phenomena through the theories of scholars such as Michael A. Hogg And Graham M. Vaughanhighlighting how conformism, leadership and group pressures can condition individual decisions.

The social influence in the decisions of the juries

Hogg And Vaughan They describe in depth how the decision -making process of a single juror can be influenced by the opinions expressed by the other members of the jury. The ASH studios On conformism, they show that people can adapt their opinions to align themselves with the majority, even when this majority could be wrong. This behavior is attributed to regulatory influence, where the individual conforms To be accepted or for Avoid social refusalalthough knowing that the majority’s opinion is wrong. In addition, the polarization of the group can lead the jury to take more extreme positions than the initial opinions of individual members. In the context of a jury, these dynamics can bring (without wanting it) the jurors to Change your beliefs to align with the group’s consentthus influencing the final verdict. The pressure to conform can be amplified by the cohesion of the group and the desire to reach a unanimous verdict, putting at risk the objectivity and justice of the decision -making process.

Prejudices and stereotypes in popular judges

Another fundamental aspect discussed by Hogg and Vaughan concerns the impact of prejudices and of stereotypes on the decisions of the juries. Although these come to help us for simplify And classify The many notions and information we meet daily, they can lead to discrimination And wrong judgments (and not proven) on people. For example, those that we believe to be immutable characteristics of the subjects, their distinctive and natural trait and therefore inevitable, are nothing but prejudices without scientific bases, even if their degree of social sharing is high. Prejudices can be linked toethnicity, al type, at the socio -economic status or to other demographic factors and these, even if implicit And unconsciouscan affect the judgment of the jurors, leading them to interpret the evidence in a distorted way or give more credibility to certain witnesses than others.

The presentation of the tests to the jury

Also the way in which the evidence They are presented during the process is a further factor of influence. According to Hogg and Vaughan, the order of evidence, the clarity of the exhibition and even the competence of the lawyers in narrating the facts can influence the perception of the jurors. Studies mentioned in the manual highlight how people tend to give more weight to the information presented first (“Primacy effect“) or last (“Reviewy effect“) compared to intermediate ones.

• Primacy effect: It is our tendency to remember and give greater weight to the information presented first. These first information can create a “interpretative filter“Which conditions the way the jurors perceive the subsequent tests. For example, if the defense immediately presents a solid alibi, the jurors could evaluate the evidence of the accusation with greater skepticism.
• Reviewy effect: On the contrary, this effect refers to our tendency to better remember the information presented more recently. This can happen, for example, during the concluding arches, where lawyers try to impress the strongest arguments in their favor in the memory of the jurors. If the last tests or declarations are particularly persuasive or emotional, they could obscure the memory tests presented at the beginning of the process.

It is therefore essential that the members of a jury are aware of these dynamics of social influence or of the psychological and social mechanisms that, as individuals, we generate.