The Role of Jury Instructions and its Effect on Christian and Jewish Jurors’ Beliefs on the Sentencing Verdict of Inchoate Crimes

Past studies have supported that religion plays a role in how people engage in moral psychological processes, specifically regarding a person’s thoughts versus their actions. It is important to look at how religion can play a role in the sentencing of inchoate crimes, since they are crimes that have not yet been completed involving thought. It is a current practice that lawyers and judges may include or exclude a juror based on their religious affiliation due to their assumption that their religion will play a role in their decision making. However, this current practice is based on assumption and there is limited research to support that this practice is actually effective. To address this gap in the literature, I looked at the role of religion when individuals are presented with jury instructions, and asked participants to make judgements about inchoate crimes. There was an overall significant main effect of religion on sentencing decisions of inchoate crimes, and there was no significant interaction of jury instructions and religion on sentencing decisions. The results of this study indicate that the practice of excluding jurors based on religion may actually be effective and that jury instructions do not mitigate these religious biases.