DOI: https://doi.org/10.33994/kndise.2021.66.46

T. Birch, I. Birch, M. James

This study investigated the impact of a defendant’s emotions, expressed through gait and displayed through video footage, on jury decision making. The degree of state empathy and the case-related judgements of the mock jurors were assessed using a questionnaire. The results of the study suggest that the emotions being portrayed by a figure in a piece of video footage can be identified by viewers, and that careful consideration needs to be given to the potential ramifications of playing video footage in court and the subsequent impact on collective jury decision making.

Key words: Gait, emotion perception, jury decision making