TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2000//
TI  - Assessing pretrial publicity effects: integrating content analytic results
JO  - Law and human behavior
A1  - Studebaker, C. A.
A1  - Robbennolt, J. K.
A1  - Pathak-Sharma, M. K.
A1  - Penrod, S. D.
SP  - 317
EP  - 336
VL  - 24
IS  - 3
N2  - When a case has received pretrial publicity which has the capacity to bias potential jurors in the trial venue, a change of venue is one means of attempting to ensure that the defendant receives a fair trial. Content analysis of the pretrial publicity surrounding a case can provide the court with important information to consider when determining whether prejudice in the relevant community is too great for the defendant to receive a fair trial. This paper presents an approach to content analysis of pretrial publicity that draws upon both legal commentary and past empirical social science research. It is a systematic approach that could be employed by both the prosecution and defense when presenting arguments to the court about whether a change of venue should be granted. Information gleaned from content analysis of the publicity surrounding a specific case fills the gap between information provided by experimental research which has examined pretrial publicity effects and public opinion polls concerning the public's perception of the defendant in a particular case. Results from a content analysis can serve to validate public opinion survey data gathered from the same locales. To exemplify this content analytic approach, a content analysis conducted by the authors in preparation for the change of venue hearing in the case of Timothy McVeigh is presented.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0147-7307
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -