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Full-Text Articles in Social Psychology
Predators And Propensity: The Proper Approach For Determining The Admissibility Of Prior Bad Acts Evidence In Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions, Basyle Tchividjian
Predators And Propensity: The Proper Approach For Determining The Admissibility Of Prior Bad Acts Evidence In Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions, Basyle Tchividjian
Faculty Publications and Presentations
PREDATORS AND PROPENSITY: THE PROPER APPROACH FOR DETERMINING THE ADMISSIBILITY OF PRIOR BAD ACTS EVIDENCE IN CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE PROSECUTIONS
Basyle J. Tchividjian†
Abstract
The admissibility of prior bad act evidence in child sexual abuse prosecutions oftentimes makes the difference between a guilty and not guilty verdict. Recently, jurisdictions have growingly embraced the admission of such evidence for the purpose of establishing the defendant’s propensity to sexually victimize children. Due to the potentially high prejudicial effect of admitting propensity evidence, it is more critical than ever that courts carefully apply the decisive evidentiary gatekeeper, the probative value balancing test …
Understanding Jurors’ Judgments In Cases Involving Juvenile Defendants: Effects Of Confession Evidence And Intellectual Disability, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Bette L. Bottoms
Understanding Jurors’ Judgments In Cases Involving Juvenile Defendants: Effects Of Confession Evidence And Intellectual Disability, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Bette L. Bottoms
Psychology Faculty Scholarship
Juveniles are at heightened risk for falsely confessing to crimes, particularly if they are intellectually disabled. We conducted a mock trial experiment to investigate the effects of a juvenile defendant’s confession and status as intellectually disabled on jurors’ decision making. As expected, jurors discounted a juvenile’s coerced confession: Jurors’ judgments were similar for a juvenile who was perceived to have confessed under coercion and a juvenile who did not confess. In general, these effects were explained by the fact that, compared to a juvenile who was perceived as having confessed voluntarily, a juvenile who was perceived as having confessed under …