Clayton D. Peoples

The effects of deliberations and religious identity on mock jurors’ verdicts:

Jurors may be biased toward defendants because of their group status or similarities/differences. Deliberation may minimize bias by forcing jurors to rationalize their decisions. In two experiments, mock jurors read that, at the time of the crime, the defendant was: engaged in Christian prayers, Islamic prayers, or TV watching (control). Study 1 described a crime stereotypically associated with Muslims (bombing a transportation center); Study 2 used a crime associated with fundamentalist Christians (bombing an abortion clinic). Participants gave predeliberation and postdeliberation verdicts. Findings for both studies are similar, despite the stereotypicality of the crime. There was a general leniency effect—the more participants saw themselves as similar to the defendant, the less certain they were of guilt. Deliberation made jurors less likely to convict Muslim and Christian defendants, but not control-group defendants. Religious identity of the defendant had no direct effect on verdicts. Findings have implications for juror bias, crime stereotypicality, and the effects of jury deliberation.

Friendship and Conformity in Group Opinions: Juror Verdict Change in Mock Juries

Social psychological research on group processes has consistently shown that group members adjust their views to conform to dominant and/or socially desirable stances. Studies are less clear, though, on how friendships within groups impact this tendency. Some studies suggest greater group cohesion leads to more conformity; other studies suggest friendship lessens the pressure to agree on certain issues. In this study, we use mock juries to test the impact of varying levels of friendship on jurors’ propensities to change their verdicts to the dominant position (in this case acquittal, or a “not guilty” verdict). Our findings show that distant friendships among jurors increase the odds of conforming to acquittal; but close friendships decrease the odds of conformity. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding group processes and conformity as well as for jury research.

CONTRIBUTOR INFLUENCE IN CONGRESS: Social Ties and PAC Effects on U.S. House Policymaking

Knowing how campaign contributors influence policymaking is important for understanding political power, but the existing literature—much of it outside sociology—has mixed findings. Using data on Political Action Committee (PAC) contributors and roll call voting in eight U.S. Houses, 1991–2006, I approach the issue using a novel, sociological approach that focuses on social ties between lawmakers and mutually shared contributors. The findings show consistent, statistically significant contributor influence via these ties in seven of the eight Houses. I discuss the implications of these findings for contributor-lawmaker reciprocal exchange, the social embeddedness of policymaking, and political power.

Consistency in the Midst of Change: Class and Value Stability in Poland, 1988‐2003

Poland has undergone radical social change since 1989. Prior research shows that despite this change, the relationship between class and values in Poland remained stable through the early 1990s, and a similar pattern held in Ukraine as well. More recent work in Ukraine in the early 2000s suggests continuing stability in the class-values relationship, but we lack a similar update for Poland. This study examines Polish data 1988‐2003 and yields significant findings: There is considerable consistency in class and values in Poland into the early 2000s, both with regards to over-time stability in each as well as the relationship between the two. These findings add to mounting evidence concerning the strong, enduring impact of social structure on personality.

Capital-izing Jurors: How Death Qualification Relates to Jury Composition, Jurors’ Perceptions, and Trial Outcomes

In the U.S., death penalty trials are decided by juries who both determine the defendant’s guilt and recommend a sentence. These juries are special in that they are “death-qualified.” Death qualification is a process in which prospective jurors are eliminated if they have such strong opinions about the death penalty that the opinions would interfere with their duties as jurors. This process has evoked controversy because research has revealed that the process biases jurors toward more punitive decisions (i.e., more guilty verdicts and harsher sentences) and systematically disqualifies some groups of individuals more than others. This chapter examines research on the effects of death qualification on jury composition, jurors’ perceptions, and trial outcomes. Future research and new theoretical connections are explored at the end.

Using Secondary Survey Data to Study Community Sentiment: An Example Examining Sentiment Toward Income Based on Family Needs and Income

Surveys and secondary survey data can be extremely useful tools for researchers and practitioners examining community sentiment. In this chapter, we discuss survey methodology and provide a detailed, step-by-step example of how to conduct secondary data analysis. We first introduce survey methodology and discuss the pros and cons of survey data. We then proceed with an example that uses secondary survey data to examine community sentiment on the question of if/how family needs should be a factor in deciding how much employees ought to be paid. We conclude by discussing how our example sheds light on the utility of survey data in community sentiment research.

Social Networks and Political Analysis

Social networks have been an important area of study in sociology dating back to the classic works of Simmel. The study of social networks entails a unique perspective focused on social relations. It also carries a powerful methodological repertoire geared toward mapping and analyzing social ties. Political research has greatly benefited from the application of social networks. In particular, numerous studies of political behavior/social movements and political power structure have applied social networks to help us better understand how relations matter in these realms. But, there are still virtually endless opportunities to apply social networks to political research. In this chapter, I briefly discuss how research on political behavior/social movements and political power structure has been impacted by social networks. I then illustrate how social networks can be fruitfully applied to another important political topic – policymaking – and bridge this back with political power structure research. Specifically, I examine how receiving campaign contributions from the same big business and labor political action committees (PACs) affects roll call vote similarity among pairs of U.S. House members. My analyses show that the more big business PAC contributors legislators share, the more similarly they vote, independent of other factors (including their vote similarity in prior years). Conversely, sharing labor contributors has no influence on voting patterns among legislators. These findings carry significant implications for our understanding of policymaking and political power structure. Importantly, the findings also show that social networks are important in policymaking, which means they should be included in future policymaking research.

Uncovering Political Influence by Using Network Analyses and Exploring Contribution/Party Interactions: The Case of Ohio Legislative Voting

Abstract Legislative roll call voting is a decisive moment in the exercise of democratic power, and understanding how campaign contributions affect roll call voting speaks directly to timely issues of influence and corruption. Methodological limitations on the question of how contributions affect voting produces mixed findings. Using original data on the Ohio Legislature, I perform uniquely sociological (network) analyses to help overcome the limitations of prior research and bring the literature closer to an answer on how contributions affect voting. Results show that campaign contributions significantly affect voting, in the context of party. The results imply a causal relationship whereby contributions affect votes. I discuss the implications of these findings for policy research and political power work.

Restricting public life, creating deadly strife: how political discrimination impacts interethnic conflict

In this paper, we examine the effects of different types of political discrimination on interethnic conflict using data on over 200 ethnic groups within over 100 countries. Our results show that political restrictions, in general, significantly increase the likelihood of interethnic conflict. Additionally, our results demonstrate that restrictions on migration and voting rights, in particular, are highly salient predictors of conflict. Our findings suggest that future research on interethnic conflict should further examine the impact of political discrimination. The practical implication of our findings is that policymakers worldwide should seriously consider the potentially deadly ramifications of discriminatory policies.

The impact of campaign contributions on policymaking in The U.S. and Canada: Theoretical and public policy implications

In both the academic and public policy realms, debates have gone on for decades concerning the influence of class-based interest groups on policymaking. Virtually no work in this area compares influence in the U.S. with influence in Canada despite the fact that the countries provide interesting differences in the social and political contexts within which influence may occur. In this chapter, we analyze how receiving money from the same business and labor entities (“political action committees” in the U.S.) influences similarity in voting among legislators in the 105th U.S. House of Representatives (1997–1998). We then perform the same analysis for the 36th Canadian House of Commons (1997–2000). In the U.S., we find that sharing business contributors significantly affects vote similarity among legislators, whereas sharing labor contributors does not. This supports elite-power and class-based theories and bolsters the arguments of those who feel more campaign finance reform may be necessary. In Canada, however, sharing contributors of either type has no effect on vote similarity among parliamentarians, which supports state-centered theory and lends credence to those arguing additional reforms may be unnecessary. These findings suggest that structural context matters greatly for patterns of political power.