Capital trials are deliberately structured to let jurors avoid moral responsibility

Evidence

If the jurors call for the death penalty, they will have to live with the knowledge that they will be parties to the intentional killing of a human being. They also have to distance themselves from the consequences of a death sentence. To allow jurors to make this decision, capital trials are structured so that the jurors do not see themselves as responsible for sentencing a human being to death. They achieve self-exoneration through social justification, diffusion of responsibility, and minimization of consequences. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1984 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Trial preparation treats jurors as an audience to be persuaded through staged presentation — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 850; Staging a trial means controlling what juries see of a client’s emotions — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action , 1700; Jury trial safeguards defendants against corrupt prosecutors and biased judges — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1292 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Capital trial structure deliberately enables jurors’ moral self-exoneration #corroborates (1.00) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1984