9515451 Wiener This project use social cognition theory to study the way in which eligible jurors understand and apply the law in capital murder trials to determine whether to sentence a defendant to life in prison or to death. Previous research has found that potential jurors do not reliably comprehend instructions which direct jurors to weigh aggravating and mitigating factors to determine a sentence. The current project involves two separate studies of juror and jury decision that will attempt to determine whether cognitive prototypes that appear to be inconsistent with the law interfere with jurors' understanding of sentencing instructions. The first study involves structured interviews with 100 capital jury-eligible citizens to determine their beliefs about accused and convicted murderers, victims of murder, aggravating circumstances, mitigating circumstances, and other elements of law. The second study is a mock jury study with video presentation of a re-enacted murder trial and jury deliberations. It will test the hypothesis that miscomprehension of sentencing instructions is produced not only by unclear language but also by the existence of l)incongruence between the jurors' schemata of murder (measured in study 1) and the law outlined in the instructions and 2) the lack of procedural knowledge concerning the cognitive steps that jurors must enact to follow the instructions. The overall goal of the research is to understand the types of cognitive errors that jurors commit and the way in which these errors may influence deliberations and final sentences in first degree murder trials. %%%% This project use social cognition theory to study the way in which eligible jurors understand and apply the law in capital murder trials to determine whether to sentence a defendant to life in prison or to death. Previous research has found that potential jurors do not reliably comprehend instructions which direct jurors to weigh aggravating and mitigating factors to determine a sentence. The c urrent project involves two separate studies of juror and jury decision that will attempt to determine whether cognitive prototypes that appear to be inconsistent with the law interfere with jurors' understanding of sentencing instructions. The first study involves structured interviews with 100 capital jury-eligible citizens to determine their beliefs about accused and convicted murderers, victims of murder, aggravating circumstances, mitigating circumstances, and other elements of law. The second study is a mock jury study with video presentation of a re-enacted murder trial and jury deliberations. The overall goal of the research is to understand the types of cognitive errors that jurors commit and the way in which these errors may influence deliberations and final sentences in first degree murder trials. ****
