Witness Appeal - Penrod and Cutler

Penrod and Cutler - The only thing that should affect a jury's decision is the evidence, but there are many Psychological factors that affect this such as witness confidence. Confidence and accuracy aren't necessarily related e.g. in a murder trial a witness maybe convinced that the defendant was the murderer but they could have misidentified them. Especially if a weapon was involveed aka 'weapons focus effect'. However giving evidence in court can be a nerve wracking experience... more likely to be less confident when they give evidence on the stand e.g. someone might stutter despite being totally accurate. This can be problematic as someone may appear as though they're making their testimony up, or that they can't accurately recall any details from the crime.

Aim/ M&P: Examine how witness confidence may influence jurors when evaluating EWT. Focussing on Witness confidence IV. Witness was either 80% confident or 100% confident about robber; Lab (mock trial); video tape of mock robbery trial.

 Results:

• WC about identification 100% confident = 67% GV
  
• WC about identification 80% confident = 60% GV

Conclusion: Juries take more than evidence into account such as personality of the witness available which can affect their decision. It shouldn't be taken into account but it is.