Sm. Kassin et Sr. Sommers, INADMISSIBLE TESTIMONY, INSTRUCTIONS TO DISREGARD, AND THE JURY - SUBSTANTIVE VERSUS PROCEDURAL CONSIDERATIONS, Personality & social psychology bulletin, 23(10), 1997, pp. 1046-1054
The present study tested the hypothesis that jurors comply selectively
with instructions to disregard inadmissible evidence. A total of 81 m
ock jurors read a murder trial summary in which a wiretap was ruled ad
missible, inadmissible because it was not reliable, or inadmissible be
cause it was illegally obtained (there was also a no-wiretap control g
roup). As predicted, participants were more likely to vote guilty and
interpret subsequent evidence as more incriminating in the admissible
and inadmissible/due-process conditions than in the admissible/unrelia
ble and control groups. These results suggest that jurors are influenc
ed not by the judge's ruling per se but by the causal basis for that r
uling. Conceptual and practical implications are discussed.