The Mr. Big technique on trial by jury : impressions of defendant character, confession evaluations, and verdicts

Abstract

Mr. Big is an undercover Canadian police technique used to elicit confessions from suspects. Undercover officers befriend the suspect, encouraging them to join a fictitious criminal organization and participate in staged crimes. Researchers have regarded the technique as highly problematic, warning that it may elicit false confessions. Additionally, when Mr. Big evidence is presented in court, it may induce juror prejudice towards the general character of defendants. The present research evaluated the influence of three variables on mock-juror decision-making: the level of violence in the operation, amount of incentives paid to the defendant, and the defendant’s intelligence. Results from Experiment 1 (N = 270) showed a reduction of guilty verdicts in the high incentive conditions. Experiment 2 (N = 1,666) results showed support for the influence of incentive and defendant intelligence on ratings of defendant character, evaluations of confession evidence, and verdicts. Significant differences were found between community and student participants on multiple outcomes.