9530102 Haney This dissertation improvement project will expand upon the preliminary work of the P.I.s on the problems in the quality and degree of comprehension of jurors in interpreting capital penalty sentencing instructions. The previous research established key areas of confusion surrounding California's pattern instruction. The present research will explore the influence of comprehension on racial bias and a bias favoring death verdicts in capital sentencing. It will use an experimental design to explore the effects of racial variables on the decision making processes of penalty jurors to test the hypothesis that jurors' inability to comprehend and apply sentencing guidelines contributes to the documented racial disparity in death sentence imposition. It is hypothesized that what is interpreted by mock jurors as aggravating and mitigating circumstances will be influenced by race of victim and defendant. It is also hypothesized that comprehension problems will be worse for items related to mitigation, and that this will create a bias in favor of a death verdict among the subjects. %%%% This dissertation improvement project will expand upon the preliminary work of the P.I.s on the problems in the quality and degree of comprehension of jurors in interpreting capital penalty sentencing instructions. The previous research established key areas of confusion surrounding California's pattern instruction. The present research will explore the influence of comprehension on racial bias and a bias favoring death verdicts in capital sentencing. It will use an experimental design to explore the effects of racial variables on the decision making processes of penalty jurors to test the hypothesis that jurors' inability to comprehend and apply sentencing guidelines contributes to the documented racial disparity in death sentence imposition. It is hypothesized that what is interpreted by mock jurors as aggravating and mitigating circumstances will be influenced by race of victim and defendant. It is also hypothesized that comprehension problems will be worse for items related to mitigation, and that this will create a bias in favor of a death verdict among the subjects. ****
