Determining dangerousness in sexually violent predator evaluations: cognitive-experiential self-theory and juror judgments of expert testimony
Behavioral Sciences & the Law, Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages 507 - 526. Special Issue: Current Directions
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Joel D. Lieberman, Daniel A. Krauss, Mariel Kyger, Maribeth Lehoux
"Past research examining the effects of expert testimony on the future dangerousness of a defendant in death penalty sentencing found that jurors are more influenced by less scientific clinical expert testimony and tend to devalue scientific actuarial testimony. This study was designed to determine whether these findings extend to civil commitment trials for sexual offenders and to test a theoretical rationale for this effect. Participants' gender was found to exert important interactive effects on dangerousness decisions, with male jurors showing the predicted effect while females did not. The policy implications of these findings are discussed."
[Sub requied]