Character Witness
by Elizabeth Elaine Foster
Category: Clinical psychology

No research has yet examined the impact of prosecutorial impeachment and the rehabilitation of a character witnesss testimony on jurors decisions in the guilt phase of trials. As a result, we lack a basic understanding of whether character evidence is viewed as persuasive in the context of juror decision-making. This study examined whether character evidence influences mock jurors perceptions of a defendants guilt, focusing on the impeachment and rehabilitation of a character witnesss testimony. A pilot study was first conducted to examine the strength of character evidence statements; the primary study then utilized those pilot-tested statements. For the primary study, a total of 197 participants were included from a large northeastern university. This six-group study had two levels of character evidence (none or present), three levels of impeachment (none, a general character witness rebuttal, or a cross-examination of the defenses witness), and two levels of rehabilitation (none or presence of cross-examination/redirect). Results revealed that when character evidence was present, mock jurors found the defendant more likely to be guilty on a seven-point Likert scale. This was true even when there was an impeachment and/or rehabilitation of the character witnesss testimony.