{"id":2883,"date":"2020-12-03T20:06:12","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T01:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/aer\/?p=2883"},"modified":"2021-12-16T14:56:07","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:56:07","slug":"brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR’S BEST FRIEND"},"content":{"rendered":"

In honor of national Adopt-A-Dog and Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month, we will look at an interesting study on drug-dog evidence and mock-juror decision making, examining whether jurors would credit the alert of a drug-sniffing dog as a *sufficient condition* for guilt in a trafficking case.\u00a0 The researchers in this study tested how much credit mock jurors would give to the alert of a drug-sniffing dog in a drug-trafficking case where no drugs were ever discovered and the only evidence of their presence was testimony that a drug-sniffing dog had alerted on the defendant\u2019s automobile.\u00a0 Lisa Lit et al., *Perceived infallibility of detection dog
\nevidence: implications for juror decision-making* (2019), *available at*
\nhttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/1478601X.2018.1561450<\/a>.\u00a0 For just a word on the legal backdrop of this kind of evidence, the United States Supreme Court has approved of the admissibility of drug-dog alerts\u2014though admissibility of that evidence is not without qualification.\u00a0 *Florida v. Harris* 568
\nU.S. 237 (2013).<\/p>\n

The researchers provided the subjects with a summary of testimony showing that a drug-sniffing dog alerted on the defendant\u2019s car, though no drugs were ever found.\u00a0 The dog\u2019s alert was used to gain a warrant for defendant\u2019s house where police found only a large sum of
\nstashed money.\u00a0 Subjects were asked, among a host of other questions, whether the defendant was guilty of drug trafficking, how confident they were in their verdict, and how confident they were that a drug-dog alert indicated the presence of drugs.\u00a0 Lit, et al, *supra *at 194.<\/p>\n

Though a majority of the mock-jurors issued a not guilty verdict, 33.5% of the 554 participants voted to convict the defendant for drug trafficking even though no drugs were ever found in the defendant\u2019s car or house.\u00a0 *Id.\u00a0 *Furthermore, \u201cParticipants assigning a guilty verdict
\nwere more likely to indicate high levels of confidence in their verdict (70% or higher) than those assigning a verdict of not guilty [statistics omitted].\u201d\u00a0 *Id. *at 197.\u00a0 80% of all participants either agreed or strongly agreed that a drug-dog\u2019s alert at a location where no drugs were found simply meant that drugs were present at some point, even though such alerts could result from dog or handler errors.\u00a0 *Id. *at 195, 197.\u00a0 If the reader has pondered the so-called \u201chalo effect\u201d before\u2014the human tendency to like or dislike, credit or discredit a person based on who they are or
\nhow they are perceived\u2014it is likely you have never considered any powers a dog\u2019s halo might have.<\/p>\n

You may or may not know that the origin of the famous phrase \u201ca dog is a man\u2019s best friend\u201d is traced back to a rather rousing closing argument offered up by George Vest in a small Missouri courtroom in 1870.\u00a0 Vest\u2019s soaring oratory on the plaintiff\u2019s deceased dog is worth a trial
\nlawyer\u2019s read. Though Vest says that dogs are faithful, unselfish, and noble, we humans appear willing to also credit them with honesty, accuracy, and forensic reliability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In honor of national Adopt-A-Dog and Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month, we will look at an interesting study on drug-dog evidence and mock-juror decision making, examining whether jurors would credit the alert of a drug-sniffing dog as a *sufficient condition* for guilt in a trafficking case.\u00a0 The researchers in this study tested how much credit mock jurors would<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,11],"tags":[],"coauthors":[203],"class_list":["post-2883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brain-lessons","category-trial-advocacy"],"yoast_head":"\nBRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR'S BEST FRIEND - Advocacy and Evidence Resources<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR'S BEST FRIEND - Advocacy and Evidence Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In honor of national Adopt-A-Dog and Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month, we will look at an interesting study on drug-dog evidence and mock-juror decision making, examining whether jurors would credit the alert of a drug-sniffing dog as a *sufficient condition* for guilt in a trafficking case.\u00a0 The researchers in this study tested how much credit mock jurors would\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-04T01:06:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T14:56:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Grant Rost\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Grant Rost\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e\"},\"headline\":\"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR’S BEST FRIEND\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-04T01:06:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-16T14:56:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/\"},\"wordCount\":498,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Brain Lessons\",\"Trial Advocacy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/\",\"name\":\"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR'S BEST FRIEND - Advocacy and Evidence Resources\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-04T01:06:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-16T14:56:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR’S BEST FRIEND\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/\",\"name\":\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\",\"description\":\"Just another Law Sites site\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png\",\"width\":711,\"height\":220,\"caption\":\"Advocacy and Evidence Resources\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e\",\"name\":\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g6b68adb939ecac32ef61d8026f0bafe4\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/author\/tug27334\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR'S BEST FRIEND - Advocacy and Evidence Resources","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR'S BEST FRIEND - Advocacy and Evidence Resources","og_description":"In honor of national Adopt-A-Dog and Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month, we will look at an interesting study on drug-dog evidence and mock-juror decision making, examining whether jurors would credit the alert of a drug-sniffing dog as a *sufficient condition* for guilt in a trafficking case.\u00a0 The researchers in this study tested how much credit mock jurors would","og_url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/","og_site_name":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources","article_published_time":"2020-12-04T01:06:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-16T14:56:07+00:00","author":"Grant Rost","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Grant Rost","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/"},"author":{"name":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e"},"headline":"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR’S BEST FRIEND","datePublished":"2020-12-04T01:06:12+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-16T14:56:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/"},"wordCount":498,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Brain Lessons","Trial Advocacy"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/","name":"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR'S BEST FRIEND - Advocacy and Evidence Resources","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-04T01:06:12+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-16T14:56:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/2020\/12\/03\/brain-lessons-a-dog-is-a-jurors-best-friend\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BRAIN LESSONS: A DOG IS A JUROR’S BEST FRIEND"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/","name":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources","description":"Just another Law Sites site","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#organization","name":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/AER-LOGO.png","width":711,"height":220,"caption":"Advocacy and Evidence Resources"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/#\/schema\/person\/ebe47f403ad14e2c5faec834f2d8472e","name":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g6b68adb939ecac32ef61d8026f0bafe4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d2a56b84151f5331c5c999af7a12cc505aeed9fec929142bc9dd30b398301e5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jules M Epstein (hehimhis)"},"url":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/author\/tug27334\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3323,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2883\/revisions\/3323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2883"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/aer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}