Psihološki mehanizmi, ki vplivajo na odločanje porote

Porota je neizbežen institut sistemov s tradicijo common law. Tam ima zgodovinsko svojski položaj. Kljub temu pravi porotni sistem izrazito cenijo zgolj še v ZDA, kjer je sojenje po poroti ustavna garancija. Eno izmed najpomembnejših vprašanj, ki zadevajo porotno sojenje, je, ali so končne odločitve porote poštene in pravične. Vsak sodni postopek se mora namreč v celoti izvesti nepristransko, da bi sodba obveljala za pošteno. Potreba po psihološkem preučevanju porote se je razvila v luči tega vprašanja, ob dejstvu, da končno sodbo poda skupina popolnih laikov. Zato je psihološko porotno preučevanje pravzaprav preučevanje dejavnikov, torej vplivov zunaj človeka, ki naj bi učinkovali nanj. Vzporedno z raziskovanjem dejavnikov se znanost osredotoča tudi na kognitivni proces porotnikov. V ta namen so se razvili različni modeli, s katerimi so znanstveniki želeli pojasniti porotnikove psihične procese pri sprejemanju odločitve. Ta magistrska naloga predstavi in kritično ovrednoti tovrstne raziskovalne pristope. Jury seems to be inevitable endowment in systems with Common Law tradition. Only there it holds historically unique position. However, United States remain the only Anglo American country to cherish trial by jury nowadays, lauding and raising it to the level of constitutional guarantee. One of the focal questions concerning trial by jury is whether jury's verdicts can be deemed fair and just. The whole process of adjudication must be impartial should the verdict be fair. In the light of this question a need for jury studies emerged. Such need was amplified by the fact that jurors, composing a body of decision-making laymen, can be influenced in various ways. Thus, psychological jury study amounts to study of considerations, i.e. influences that are beyond man and his psyche. In addition, a special regard is placed upon jurors' cognitive processes. To this end, numerous models have been developed to improve penetration of juror's indiviudal psychic processes. The present thesis hastens to provide an overview of such scientific approaches, with the aim to critically address them.