How to Obtain
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NCJ Number:
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NCJ 194069
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Title:
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Trial Strategies in Domestic Violence Felonies
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Series:
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NIJ Research Report
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Author(s):
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Carolyn C. Hartley Ph.D. ; Roxann Ryan J.D.
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Corporate Author:
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University of Iowa School of Social Work United States
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Date Published:
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1998 |
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Page Count:
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31 |
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Sponsoring Agency:
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Grant Number:
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95-WT-NX-0003 |
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Sale Source:
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University of Iowa School of Social Work North Hall Iowa City, IA 52242 United States
NCJRS Photocopy Services Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20849-6000 United States |
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Document:
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PDF |
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Agency Summary:
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Agency Summary |
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Dataset:
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02811 |
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Type:
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Studies/research reports |
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Language:
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English |
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Country:
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United States |
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Annotation:
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This study identified the trial strategies used by the
prosecution and defense in 40 felony domestic-violence cases (21
murder cases and 19 non-murder cases) in Iowa between 1989 and
1995. |
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Abstract:
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Trial transcripts were scanned into computer files, edited, and
analyzed by using the HyperResearch qualitative text analysis
program. Three prosecution themes were present in every case:
proof that the charged crime had occurred, proof that the
defendant was responsible for this crime, and proof of the
credibility of the state's evidence of the defendant's guilt. In
proving the elements of the crime, prosecutors generally
attempted to "tell the story" of the violence, sometimes by
including a history of abuse in the relationship and other times
focusing only on the violent offense charged. Most prosecutors
sought to present some form of corroboration of the victim's
account. Defense attorneys generally focused on one of four
themes, although there was overlap in some cases: self-defense or
provocation, showing that the offense warranted a lesser charge,
diminished responsibility, and attempting to raise reasonable
doubt that the defendant even committed the crime. The defense
used a variety of strategies to pursue these themes. They
included attempting to show that the relationship was fine;
enhancing the character of the defendant; challenging prosecution
evidence as faulty, misleading or inconclusive; and attacking the
victim's character. With these strategies, the defense
manipulated many common views of abuse dynamics and myths about
domestic violence. In order to understand the potential
implications of this exploitation of abuse dynamics and myths,
the study drew upon research on how jurors make decisions about
guilt or innocence in criminal trials. The "story model" of
decision making in the trial procedure is the most well-developed
model of jury decision making. If jurors accept the commonly held
myths about domestic violence, they may "fill in the blanks" with
an unrealistic view of the violent relationship, and their
evaluation of the evidence may be skewed. Thus, jurors need
information about the context of the abusive relationship,
because domestic violence is not a commonly understood phenomenon
that would make decision making routine for the jurors.
Prosecutors must therefore enlighten jurors about the dynamics of
abuse by "telling the story" of the abusive relationship. The use
of expert testimony is the most direct method for achieving this.
26 notes |
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Main Term(s):
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Court procedures |
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Index Term(s):
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Expert witnesses ; Trial procedures ; Defense ; Prosecution ; Jury decisionmaking ; Domestic assault ; NIJ grant-related documents ; Iowa |
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Note:
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Dataset may be archived by the NIJ Data Resources Program at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data |
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To cite this abstract, use the following link:
https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=194069
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* A link to the full-text document is provided whenever possible. For documents
not available online, a link to the publisher's web site is provided.
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