![]() These authors argued that White jurors may attend to evidence more closely when the defendant is Black in an effort to serve as “watchdogs” against racism (termed the watchdog hypothesis). However, Sargent and Bradfield (2004) found that White mock jurors were more sensitive to legally relevant evidence in a trial transcript when the defendant was Black as compared to White. Most research focusing on the interaction between juror and defendant race has found that jurors are more lenient toward same-race defendants (see Devine and Caughlin, 2014). Further, jurors’ perceptions of recanted confessions may depend upon the suspect’s race, as jurors perceive confessions as more voluntary when the defendant belongs to a racial minority ( Pickel et al., 2013). Although expert witnesses are sometimes used to safeguard against issues with confession evidence, the effect of expert testimony on jurors’ perceptions of recanted confessions is unclear ( Moffa and Platania, 2007 Blandon-Gitlin et al., 2011). However, confessions remain one of the most influential forms of evidence in the courtroom ( Kassin and Neumann, 1997 Lieberman et al., 2008). ![]() According to the Innocence Project (2021), false confessions 1 were involved in approximately a quarter of the cases that have been exonerated through DNA evidence. These findings support the watchdog hypothesis, such that White jurors are more receptive to legally relevant evidence when the defendant is Black.Įmpirical research indicates that suspects falsely confess to crimes for a variety of reasons ( Kassin and Kiechel, 1996 King and Snook, 2009). When the defendant was White, there was no significant effect of expert testimony, but when the defendant was Black, jurors were significantly more likely to acquit when given expert testimony. When exclusively examining White participants, we observed a significant interaction between expert testimony and defendant race on verdicts. When examining the full sample, we observed no significant main effects or interactions of defendant race or expert testimony. They provided verdicts and answered questions regarding the confession and expert testimony. Participants (591 jury-eligible community members) read a first-degree murder trial transcript in which defendant race (Black/White) and expert testimony (present/absent) were manipulated. We examined the effect of defendant race and expert testimony on jurors’ perceptions of recanted confessions. 2Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada. ![]()
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