title: Plaintiff life-taking: the effect of mock juror attitudes toward suicide on assignment of negligence and damages in a civil suit.
abstract: Social scientific and legal scholars have examined the potential of a variety of case-relevant biases to distort juror decision-making (inter alia, death penalty attitudes, attitudes toward corporations, attitudes toward physicians, etc.). However, previous research has yet to address empirically the impact of attitudes toward suicide on juror decision-making. This study sought to examine the impact of mock juror's attitudes toward, and experiences with, suicide on assignment of negligence and damages in a civil suit. While results suggest that mock juror attitudes toward suicide do not directly affect a juror's assignment of negligence or damage awards, they do suggest that jurors may be susceptible to a reactance effect. As a result, attorneys should exercise caution when considering whether to directly address issues of possible plaintiff suicide.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication and Journalism, Auburn University, AL 36489, USA. worthdl@auburn.edu
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Worthington
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D002959:Civil Defense / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008318:Malpractice / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*