Blood and Guts: General and Trial‐Specific Effects of Videotaped Crime Scenes on Mock Jurors

Abstract

A mock jury study was conducted to evaluate the effects of videotaped crime scenes on juries. Forty‐eight subjects took the Juror Bias Scale and read a murder trial transcript. In addition, subjects viewed a videotape of an actual murder victim presented as the victim described in the transcript (trial‐relevant video) or as one taken from another case (trial‐nonrelevant video), or viewed no tape at all. Subjects filled out a questionnaire, then returned two days later to act as mock jurors in an assault case. Results indicated that exposure to the trial‐relevant crime scene led subjects to set lower standards of proof and brought out individual juror biases for the prosecution. On a more general level, the crime scene tape led subjects to make lower estimates of the homicide rate, to believe the rate was increasing, and to view other crimes more seriously. Overall, the findings suggest that crime scene videos can prejudice the outcome of a criminal trial.