Having discussed the influence of PTP and real-life case studies, the final section addresses different remedies to counteract PTP. There are numerous remedies juries in courts can utilize to reduce biases and negative consequences of PTP during trial, such as continuance, voir dire, judicial instructions, jury deliberation and change of venue as a counteractive for PTP.
First, continuance. Within American law, continuance is the process of postponing a trial due to unforeseen circumstances or other reasonable cause. The time delay is suggested to decrease the influence of information available by forgetting. It would most likely reduce the direct influence of PTP. Davis (1986) investigated the direct effects of a 1-week delay and found little effect for delay. However, without delay, there was no influence, therefore, the study was equivocal. Additionally, continuance over several days in a mock trial produced an effective remedy for publicity in terms of factual information (Kramer et al., 1990). Therefore, a delay of a few days may reduce the impact of PTP on juries
…show more content…
Siebert et al., (1970) denoted that vior dire was the most used remedy to combat bias in PTP. The method is influential when examining for prejudice and bias due to PTP as it prompts thorough questioning and investigation of what or who is present during trial. In a study, 158 participants were questioned on the judgement and fairness of a defendant in a criminal case and found that those who acknowledged being bias still revealed bias in their decisions (Sue et al., 1975). Additionally, voir dire was described to reduce the effect of media and news coverage, however, results presented exhibited an escalation in condemnation and convictions of those who were shown ‘neutral' media reports, which may be explained by confounding variables (Padawr-Singer et al.,