Confidence in criminal justice and judgments of guilt in criminal trials

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine how mock jurors’ verdict judgments on a criminal case can be predicted by their confidence in criminal justice. Results based on a sample of 433 adults indicate that individuals with higher confidence in criminal justice authorities’ speedy resolutions of criminal cases and in accurate fact-finding were more likely to decide a guilty verdict. In contrast, individuals with higher confidence in authorities’ lawfulness were more likely to decide a not-guilty verdict. Such relationships were explained by belief in probability of the defendant’s commission of crime and interpretations of legal standards of proof for conviction. Overall, this study adds to existing knowledge on extralegal influences on juror decision-making.