Home > All publications > Articles, Juries > The Sydney Bomber Study: Introducing the Mock Jurors

By David Tait

This chapter uses insights from a mock trial, ‘the Sydney Bomber Case’, that involved a fictional alleged terrorist incident in which a young white man was accused of placing a bomb on a train that exploded after he alighted, killing innocent commuters in the centre of Sydney.

The research found that mock jurors were fairly similar to regular jurors. By developing an in-depth profile of the mock jurors based on the beliefs and attitudes that they held when they arrived for jury duty, it was possible to examine how the jurors’ responses to the bombing allegations in the simulated trial varied according to their background characteristics.

This chapter outlines:

  • Demographic characteristics of research  participants
  • Attitudes and predispositions of the mock jurors
  • Mock jurors’ learning style preferences
  • Mock juror empathy
  • Measures of mock jurors’ justice attitudes.

This chapter is useful for:

  • Students, teachers, researchers – in Law, Psychology and Communications
  • Practitioners of law and criminal justice
  • Forensic scientists and psychologists
  • Police, national security officers and court officials
  • Policymakers
  • Journalists.
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The book

This chapter is in the book Juries, Science and Popular Culture in the Age of Terror


Other related chapters

Other chapters that provide research insights arising from the ‘the Sydney Bomber Case’ are:

Chapter 4: Animating the Bomber: The Sydney Bomber Trial

Chapter 7: Displaying the Bomb on the Train: The Challenge of Preparing Visual Evidence

Chapter 8: Research Aims and Methods

Chapter 10: Images of Interactive Virtual Environments: Do They Affect Verdict?

Chapter 11: How Juries Talked About Visual Evidence

Chapter 12: CSI Effects on Jury Reasoning and Verdicts

Chapter 13: The Effect of Deliberation on Jury Verdicts

Chapter 14: Making Sense of The Evidence: Jury Deliberation and Common Sense