NCJ Number
96016
Date Published
1984
Length
308 pages
Annotation
In an effort to determine whether intentionally biased video recordings of witness testimony could influence viewer perception, two attorneys and a witness enacted a 21-minute testimonial deposition four times.
Abstract
Each deposition enactment was recorded by a different pair of professional videotape operators. One operator in each pair attempted to use camera and recording techniques to make a video recording which was biased against the witness. The videotape operators, who had backgrounds in legal videotaping and commercial studio work, used a variety of techniques and strategies. A total of 272 university undergraduates played the role of jurors in a simulated civil trial. A questionnaire measured predeliberation judgments, perceptions, and observations. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire responses provided little evidence that the video operators were successful in manipulating either the juror-type judgments or the perceptions of those who viewed the videotapes. There were few statistically significant differences in responses to the positively and negatively biased videotapes. The video operators' intentionally biased recordings had no statistically significant effect on the role-playing jurors' decisions about the monetary value of the disputed property. Seven of the nine statistically significant differences attributable to the biasing manipulations were in a direction opposite to what the operators had intended. The use of camera techniques by videotape operators may be less of a threat to the fairness and objectivity of this method of presenting deposition testimony than previously believed. Tabular data and 116 references are provided. Appendixes contain materials, questionnaires, and forms used in the study.