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Whiskey in the Courtroom
Evolving Trends in Forensic Science
NC Indigent Defense Services and
the Duke Law Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility
Whiskey in the Courtroom
The Application of Sleep Deprivation Research on Jury Deliberation
Theresa Newman and Pate Skene
THE INGREDIENTS• A judge with a Friday commitment
• Multiple warnings, including we WILL be done on Thursday
• Early start Thursday
• Close of State’s case at 5:00 p.m.
• Close of Defense’s case about 8:45 p.m., followed by closing arguments/jury instruction
• Start of jury deliberation about 10:30 p.m.
• Guilty verdict on all counts (murder, arson, robbery) at 3:01 a.m.
court starts
8:30jurors wake
up
about6:30 a.m.
state
rests
5:00 p.m.jury retires
10:38
verdict
3:01 a.m.
20½ hours
THE LEGAL CLAIM• Newly discovered evidence claim
• Legal right to a neutral and impartial jury
• Which discharges duties honestly, intelligently and free from the influence and dominion of impairing conditions (1895 N.C. case)
• Jurors must be able to “discuss evidence, and to properly consider its weight and the effect of their conclusions” (id.)
• New science demonstrates the jurors were significantly impaired by the effects of fatigue and sleep deprivation
THE SCIENCE
• Equivalence of sleep deprivation/fatigue and alcohol in degrading psychomotor performance (1997-2005)
• Extends to cognitive performance and racial bias
• Impact in aviation/transportation/operations
THE SCIENCE
Lamond and Dawson. 1999. J. Sleep Research 8: 255-262. doi 10.1046/j.1365-2869.1999.00167.x
Sleep deprivation and cognitive fatigue are equivalent to alcohol in impairing psychomotor performance
THE SCIENCE
Van Dongen and Dinges. 2003. J. Sleep Res. 12: 181-187. doi 10.1046/j.1365-2869.2003.00357.x
Cognitive impairment late at night is separate and synergistic with fatigue and sleep deprivation
Circadian rhythm of impairment
THE SCIENCE
Van Dongen et al. 2004. Sleep. 27: 423-433.
People cannot report accurately their level of impairment by sleep deprivation
Self-report
Actual performan
ce
THE SCIENCE
Impairments extend to many areas of cognitive performance and judgment
J.A. Caldwell. 2008. Sleep Med. Rev. 12: 257-273.
THE SCIENCE
Ghumman and Barnes. 2013. J. Appl. Soc. Psych. 43: E166-E178.
Moderate sleep deprivation makes it more difficult to suppress racial bias
THE SCIENCE
Ma et al. 2013. Basic & Applied Social Psych. 35: 515-524. doi: 10.1080/01973533.2013.840630
Moderate sleep deprivation makes it more difficult to suppress racial bias
Reaction time for shoot / don’t shoot
THE SCIENCE
• Cognitive depletion / ego depletion model
• Decreased self-regulation
More reliance on intuitive judgments:heuristics and biases initial impulseemotional reaction (amygdala)
Less effective inhibition of these impulses:
“executive functions” (prefrontal cortex)
THE SCIENCE
Libedinsky et al. 2011. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 5: doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00070
Sleep deprivation selectively alters activity of brain regions involved in social judgments and decision-making
Amygdala
vmPFC (ventromedial prefrontal cortex)
THE SCIENCE
• SUMMARY
• Extensive research over the last 20 years (new evidence)
• Convergent findings from aviation/military operations research, management researchers, sleep psychologists, neuroscience
• Psychomotor and cognitive effects equivalent to legal intoxication
• Circadian (time of day) effects separate from fatigue
• Affects memory, vigilance, judgment, self-regulation, rule-following, racial bias
• Self-assessment is NOT reliable measure of actual impairment
THE SCIENCE
• Impact in military/aviation/transportation operations
J.A. Caldwell. 2009. Aviation Space & Env. Med. 80: 29-59. doi 10.3357/ASEM.2435.2009
U.S. Air Force Guidance for Scheduling Flight Missions to Avoid Fatigue in Aircrew:
• Generally speaking, the maximum flight duty period for any given day should fall within the range of 12 to16 h in situations where crew augmentation is not possible. When augmented crews are an option, duty days normally can extend to 16 to 24 h.
U.S. Navy Guidance for Scheduling Flight Missions to Avoid Fatigue in Aircrew:
• Flightcrew should not be scheduled for continuous alert or flight duty in excess of 18 h.
• If operational tempo requires the flight time limitations to be exceeded, the commanding officer, with the flight surgeon's advice, will closely monitor and specifically clear flight personnel, commenting particularly in regard to stress level and adequacy of rest and nutrition.