Psychology, Department of

 

ORCID IDs

Stacy A. Wetmore http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5820-3340

Alexis M. Le Grand http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1489-7387

Date of this Version

2021

Citation

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 2021 Vol. 28, No. 4, 508–530,

https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2020.1805810

PMCID: PMC9090405

Comments

© 2020 The Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

Abstract

Informants are witnesses who often testify in exchange for an incentive (i.e. jailhouse informant, cooperating witness). Despite the widespread use of informants, little is known about the circumstances surrounding their use at trial. This study content-analyzed trials from 22 DNA exoneration cases involving 53 informants. Because these defendants were exonerated, the prosecution informant testimony is demonstrably false. Informant characteristics including motivation for testifying, criminal history, relationship with the defendant and testimony were coded. Most informants were prosecution jailhouse informants; however, there were also defence jailhouse informants and prosecution cooperating witnesses. Regardless of informant type, most denied receiving an incentive, had criminal histories, were friends/acquaintances of the defendant and had testimonial inconsistencies. In closing statements, attorneys relied on informant testimony by either emphasizing or questioning its reliability. The impact of informant testimony on jurors’ decisions is discussed in terms of truth-default theory (TDT), the fundamental attribution error and prosecutorial vouching.

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