Same crime, same time? Differences in visual maturity affect opinions of adolescent culpability

Abstract

Early pubertal maturation is associated with earlier contact with the juvenile justice system. In two studies (Total N = 782), we examined whether youth presumed to have committed a crime and who appear physically older than their chronological age were held to different standards of legal responsibility while accounting for race and sex. Participants read a vignette detailing situations in which a crime was committed and decided whether to call the police (Study 1) or make sentencing recommendations (Study 2). Participants were more likely to call the police on youth who appeared more physically developed and on boys. Less visibly mature youth and girls were assigned behavioral explanations that deemphasized agency. White youth were sentenced to more hours of community service than Black youth. We discuss potential implications of these findings in real‐world contexts such as police decision‐making.