De-Stressing the Courtroom

You’re driving through an intersection with a green light and suddenly a car rushes in front of you running the red.  Most people would immediately judge this person as reckless with no regard for others, or someone who believes the rules don’t apply to them.  However, if you were in their shoes, it's possible they were rushing a child to the hospital or had some other emergency situation and they believed they could make the light.

At some point, we’re all guilty of this situational bias, also known as fundamental attribution error or FAE.  Described another way, it’s a person’s tendency to place undue emphasis on a person’s internal characteristics – or personality – in a given situation rather than considering alternate external factors.

National Geographic recently wrote about a study by authors from University of Chicago and New York University that found stress exacerbated FAE, making subjects more likely to judge harshly.  National Geographic noted this could come into play in the courtroom where jurors are under stress and forced to make judgments in a new and uncomfortable situation.

We believe that as a result of this stress-induced FAE, jurors could judge your client with a negative bias before all the evidence is even presented.  In order to combat FAE in your case, we suggest mitigating the amount of stress placed upon jurors in a few simple ways.

• Clear, concise explanations – When discussing the details of your case, be as clear as possible so jurors don’t have to spend extra time processing what you mean in order to keep up.
• Simple, organized visuals – As we have discussed in previous Things… articles, featuring clear visuals and simple fonts helps jurors understand what you mean and eliminate potential confusion.
• Respect their time – Part of the stress of jury duty is the time taken away from their other responsibilities.  By explaining things clearly and efficiently, you show the jury their time is valuable. 

We believe humanizing your client and explaining situational factors at play can also mitigate FAE.  Asking a doctor or nurse why they went into the field can help a jury understand their personality better and begin to realize there could be more factors at play rather than judging them on a fundamental level.

If you need assistance creating a clear and concise case message, please contact Senior Vice President Claire Luna at 714-754-1010 or cluna@juryimpact.net.