Forensic Psychology – Juries

About this Course

About the Course

In this course, Dr Cody Porter (University of the West of England) explores juries. In the first lecture, we think about what the jury is and who is able to be a juror. In the second lecture, we think about race and gender biases in jury decision making, with a series of research examples. In the third lecture, we think about the impacts of media exposure, emotional expressions by individuals during the case, as well as the attractiveness of witnesses and defendants, on jury decision making. Next, we think about the role of an expert witness in a court case and their impact on jury decision making. In the fifth lecture, we think about eye witness testimony and how it can contribute to the unreliability of jury decision making. In the sixth lecture, we think about the use of mock jury research, including some key criticisms of its common practices. In the seventh and final lecture, we review what has been discussed throughout this course and consider whether it means that juries should be abolished.

About the Lecturer

Dr Cody Porter is a senior lecturer in social psychology in the department of Health and Social Sciences at the University of the West of England. Dr Porter’s research interests are in information elicitation, lie detection and offending behaviour. Some of Dr Porter’s recent publications include ‘Implementing converged security risk management: Drivers, barriers, and facilitators’ (in press) and ‘Applying the asymmetric information management technique to insurance claims’ (2022).