Reaching a Verdict: Persuading a Jury

The effect of order of the testimony.

• The way in which information is received affects how it is processed and recalled.

Pennington: "Effect of memory structure on judgement"

• Aim: test the hypothesis that jurors are more easily persuaded by "story order" than the "witness order".
• Participants: 130 university students.
• Method: ~lab experiment ~mock trial ~evidence presented via taperecorder (of a real case) ~mock jurors had to answer questions about the evidence, present a verdict and rate their confidence (1-5).
• Results: when prosecution used story order a guilty verdict was returned 78% of the time. When the defence used…