Full bibliography

The effect of blinded experts on jurors’ verdicts

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
The effect of blinded experts on jurors’ verdicts
Abstract
Summary. “Blind expertise” has been proposed as an institutional solution to the problem of bias in expert witness testimony in litigation, as a way to improve litigation outcomes. At the request of a litigant, an intermediary selects a qualified expert and pays the expert to review a case without knowing which side requested the opinion. This paper reports an experiment that tests the hypothesis that, compared to traditional experts, such “blinded experts” will be more persuasive to jurors. A national sample of mock jurors (N = 275) watched an online video of a staged medical malpractice trial, including testimony from two medical experts, one of which (or neither, in the control condition) was randomly assigned to be a blind expert. We also manipulated whether the judge provided a special jury instruction explaining the blinding concept.
Place
Rochester, NY
Institution
Social Science Research Network
Date
2012/09/19
Language
en
Accessed
9/15/20, 1:45 AM
Library Catalog
Citation
Robertson, C. T., & Yokum, D. V. (2012). The effect of blinded experts on jurors’ verdicts. Social Science Research Network. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1884765