JURORS PERCEPTION OF VIOLENCE - A FRAMEWORK FOR INQUIRY

The impact that the perceived violence of a crime has on jury decision making has received much controversy lately. Violence may affect juri es by how it is presented, as in the case of graphic evidence; its evi dentiary purpose, as in establishing a history of violence in domestic abuse cases; and in sentencing, when the question of the heinousness of the crime is raised Many judicial experts argue that evidence of vi olence may prejudice juries' verdicts. There is also concern within th e legal community that what constitutes a heinous crime cannot be obje ctively determined. Psychological research has only just begun to expl ore these issues. This paper reviews the current legal stare of these issues, the arguments and questions that have been raised within the l egal community, and the empirical research that has been conducted thu s far. The paper concludes with directions for future research that wo uld improve our understanding of how jurors' perception of violence af fects their decisions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.