Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Accomplice Witnesses And Jailhouse Informants On Jury Decision Making, Jeffrey S. Neuschatz, Deah S. Quinlivan, Jessica K. Swanner, Christian A. Meissner, Joseph S. Neuschatz

Jessica K Swanner

The present study presents one of the first investigations of the effects of accomplice witnesses and jailhouse informants on jury decision-making. Across two experiments, participants read a trial transcript that included either a secondary confession from an accomplice witness, a jailhouse informant, a member of the community or a no confession control. In half of the experimental trial transcripts, the participants were made aware that the cooperating witness providing the secondary confession was given an incentive to testify. The results of both experiments revealed that information about the cooperating witness’ incentive (e.g., leniency or reward) did not affect participants’ verdict …