Social Psychology Research Paper

This paper discusses law and how it applies to Social Psychology. It will discuss the three stages during a jury trial: the jury selection, the courtroom drama, and the jury deliberation. The next application we are going to look at is the post trial, where sentencing and prison come into play. The last application we are going to look at is justice inside and outside of the courtroom. Everyone accused of a crime in the United States has the right to a trial by an impartial jury. Jury selection involves a three stage process. The first stage is to use voter registration lists, telephone directories, and other sources to accumulate a master list of eligible citizens that live in the community. The second stage is to call a certain amount of …show more content…
With the prison system being overcrowded it is no doubt that prison life can be brutal. Prison guards can be abusive and inmates can fall into a state of despair. Many years ago a research team at Stanford University conducted a prisoner study in the basement of the psychology department building. They had suspects arrested, fingerprinted, and driven to the prison where they striped, searched, and washed all of the prisoners down and put them in uniforms, a nylon stocking over their hair, rubber sandals, and a chain bolted to their ankles. They called the prisoners by their number and not by their names. The prison guards were given khaki uniforms to wear and were supplied with nightsticks, handcuffs, reflector sunglasses, keys, and whistles. This study showed that students took on their assigned roles. The prison guards started to verbally and physically abuse the prisoners and the prisoners, while at first were rebellious came to succumb to the abuse by the prison guards. Even when new rebellious prisoners came in they did not follow them in fear of the guards. The study ended after 6 days due to distress by the participants. This study has been proven to be unethical, but the results were very impressive. Within a short period of time and mild conditions a group of men that were not prone to violence became harsh and malicious. This study shows why prisons tend to be abusive and …show more content…
The first process in a trial is jury selection, in which trial lawyers act as intuitive psychologists, scientific jury selection can be performed, and in death qualifying cases the jurors have to say they are in favor of the death penalty before being allowed to sit on a jury. Once the jury is selected the courtroom drama begins, this includes confession evidence, lie detector tests, eyewitness testimony, nonevidentiary influences, and the judges instructions. After the trial the jury goes into deliberation where there is leadership in the jury room, the dynamics of deliberation, jury size, and less than unanimous verdicts. After the jury deliberation is post trial which includes the sentencing process and the prison experience. Social Psychologists play a big role in our judiciary system today identifying problems and seeking