open access
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open access
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ISSN : 2093-3843
This study was conducted to determine whether the effects of statement consistency and relationship type on case judgements were the same for bribery and sex assault. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions: 2 (offence type: bribery, sex assault) × 2 (statement consistency: yes, no) × 2 (defendant-witness relationship type: acquaintance, stranger) and watched a trial animation. They then responded to an attention check, a statement credibility judgement, and a case judgement questionnaire. In the end, 173 responses from adults aged 20 and older were used in the analysis. Our findings are summarised below. First, in both bribery and sexual assault, witnesses were judged more favourably when they were consistent in their statements than when they were not. However, there was no main effect of relationship type and no interaction effect of relationship type × statement consistency. Second, for both bribery and sex assault, the full mediation effect of testimonial credibility on the relationship between testimonial consistency and case judgement was significant, i.e. when testimonial consistency was high, testimonial credibility was judged to be high, and the case was judged to be more favourable to the witness. In conclusion, the effects of statement credibility judgements on case decisions were fairly similar across both crime types. Finally, we discuss the limitations and implications of this study.
Confessions are highly probative in criminal trials. This study aimed to explore the relationships between laypersons' evaluations of a set of evidence, including confession evidence, in a legal case. The study manipulated the way confession evidence was presented at three levels (no confession/initial presentation/late presentation, a between-participants factor) and measured the probative value of all of the presented evidence at two time points (initial evaluation/reevaluation, a within-participants factor). Using data from 93 participants, several network analyses were conducted. The results indicated that the importance of confession evidence varied depending on whether it was presented early or late. The initial evaluation networks exhibited weaker connections between evidence, whereas the reevaluation networks displayed stronger connections. In particular, the connections between pieces of evidence, including confession evidence, were stronger in the conviction networks than in the acquittal networks. Individuals who rendered guilty and not guilty verdicts evaluated the importance of the same evidence differently or assigned different weights to the link between the same pair of evidence. This implies that the validity of coherence-based decision theories. Furthermore, it is also suggested that further research should be conducted using different methodologies on the impact of confessions.
This study analyzed the impact of formal deterrent effects, a component of deterrence theory, on drunk driving traffic accidents in South Korea and Japan, aiming to compare these effects in preventing drunk driving. Additionally, as a means to overcome and complement the limitations of formal deterrence, this study further compared traffic safety education, a representative psychological approach. The analysis of sentencing outcomes related to drunk driving showed that in Japan, the number of drunk driving fatalities significantly decreased with each strengthening of drunk driving-related laws, demonstrating the effect of strong law enforcement as an formal deterrent. However, while South Korea has seen a continuous decrease in drunk driving fatalities, it lacks a consistent trend, indicating that the effect of official deterrence is comparatively less significant than in Japan. However, in South Korea, the pattern of increase and decrease in drunk driving fatalities has repeated, and there has not been a significant decrease even after the amendment of the Yoon Chang-ho law, indicating that the effect of official deterrence is comparatively less significant than in Japan. The study also emphasized the need for a psychological approach to supplement the limitations of deterrence effects and compared traffic safety education in both countries. Both countries have developed and implemented traffic safety education based on psychological theories, yet showed several differences. Notably, it was found that Korea offers more effective traffic safety education for individuals with a history of drunk driving, i.e., habitual drunk drivers, than Japan. Therefore, this study proposed the importance of mutual complementarity between official deterrence and psychological approaches to prevent drunk driving and habitual drunk driving. Finally, the study presented its recommendations and limitations.