Mock Jurors’ Perceptions of Eyewitness Evidence: The Role of Familiarity with the Defendant, Race of the Defendant, and Eyewitness Confidence

Almost exclusively, eyewitness research in the context of juror decision-making has examined the situation where the eyewitness and defendant are strangers. The purpose of the current study was to examine how prior familiarity with the defendant together with eyewitness confidence and defendant race influence mock jurors' perceptions of the eyewitness evidence and defendant guilt. Mock jurors (N = 427) read a trial transcript from a mock robbery case that involved eyewitness dentification evidence. Both defendant race and eyewitness confidence were found to influence jurors' judgments with more positive perceptions of the eyewitness and higher perceptions of the defendant's guilt when the eyewitness identified the same-race defendant and when he expressed high identification confidence, respectively. Although familiarity was not influential in their legal judgments, mock jurors' subjective perceptions of the eyewitness-defendant familiarity were associated with their judgments and verdict decisions. The implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.