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25 Psych., Crime & L. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/pcyceadl25 and id is 1 raw text is: PSYCHOLOGY, CRIME & LAW Rutled e 2019, VOL. 25, NO. 1, 1-22 https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2018.1483507 Taylor & Francis Group The Mr. Big technique on trial by jury Christina J. Connors a',b Marc W. Patrya and Steven M. Smitha 'Saint Marys University, Halifax, Canada; bUniversity of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Canada ABS TRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Mr. Big is a Canadian undercover police technique used to elicit Received 20 March 2017 confessions. Undercover officers befriend the suspect, and Accepted 22 May 2018 gradually draw them into a fictitious criminal organization. Upon meeting the boss of the organization, 'Mr. Big', the suspect is M Bg terogation;false pressured to confess. When evidence from the sting operation, confessions; jury decision- including the confession, is presented later in court, it may induce making; prejudice; verdicts juror moral prejudice towards a defendant. We evaluated how situational and dispositional sting factors (crime task severity, financial incentive, and defendant intelligence) influence mock juror moral prejudice and decision-making in Mr. Big cases. Results from Experiment 1 (N= 270) showed fewer guilty verdicts in the high incentive conditions. In Experiment 2 (N=1,666), high incentive and low defendant intelligence were related to fewer guilty verdicts, more favorable ratings of defendant character, and more skeptical evaluations of confession evidence. Additionally, there were differences between community and student participants on multiple outcomes. Mr. Big is a Canadian undercover investigative tool where police officers impersonate crim- inals working in a large organization. Developed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the early 1990s, the goal of a Mr. Big investigation is to elicit a confession from a suspect (Moore, Copeland, & Schuller, 2009; Poloz, 2015). Usually the technique is reserved for high-profile crimes, such as homicides, where leads have gone cold and there is not enough other evidence to pursue charges (Keenan & Brockman, 2010; Milward, 2013; Moore & Keenan, 2013; Moore et al., 2009; Puddister & Riddell, 2012). Although each oper- ation is individually tailored to a specific suspect, there is a general pattern to Mr. Big investigations. In the early stages of a Mr. Big sting, police will covertly investigate a suspect - gather- ing information about their background and hobbies - to successfully meet, and engage with them (Smith, Stinson, & Patry, 2009; Smith, Stinson, & Patry, 2010). At a staged meeting, called 'the bump', the primary undercover operative will initiate a friendship with the suspect (Luther & Snook, 2016; R. v. Balbar, 2014). Shortly after, the undercover officer will request the suspect's assistance with a small job, and compensate him or her generously for their help (Moore et al., 2009; Smith et al., 2009). Eventually, the CONTACT Christina J. Connors christina.connors@uoit.net Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3L3R5; University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada, L1 H 7K4; Marc W. Patry marc.patry@smu.ca, . Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3L3R5 4 Supplemental data for this article can be accessed http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2018.1483507 © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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