Plaintiff life-taking: the effect of mock juror attitudes toward suicide on assignment of negligence and damages in a civil suit
✍ Scribed by Debra L. Worthington
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2004
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 109 KB
- Volume
- 22
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0735-3936
- DOI
- 10.1002/bsl.611
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Social scientific and legal scholars have examined the potential of a variety of case‐relevant biases to distort juror decision‐making (inter alia, death penalty attitudes, attitudes toward corporations, attitudes toward physicians, etc.). However, previous research has yet to address empirically the impact of attitudes toward suicide on juror decision‐making. This study sought to examine the impact of mock juror's attitudes toward, and experiences with, suicide on assignment of negligence and damages in a civil suit. While results suggest that mock juror attitudes toward suicide do not directly affect a juror's assignment of negligence or damage awards, they do suggest that jurors may be susceptible to a reactance effect. As a result, attorneys should exercise caution when considering whether to directly address issues of possible plaintiff suicide. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.