The influence of defendant race and victim physical attractiveness on juror decision-making in a sexual assault trial

Abstract

Previous research has examined separately the influence of defendant race and victim physical attractiveness on juror decision-making in sexual assault trials. The current study sought to examine the combined effects of defendant race and victim physical attractiveness in a trial of alleged acquaintance sexual assault. Mock jurors read a trial transcript in which the defendant race and victim physical attractiveness were manipulated via photographs. Results demonstrated that women were not influenced by victim attractiveness, but that men were more certain of the defendant guilt when the victim was unattractive. Defendant race and victim attractiveness interacted with regards to victim responsibility ratings -when the defendant was White, attractive victims were rated as more responsible for the alleged assault than unattractive victims; this effect was reversed for trials with a Black defendant and nonexistent for trials with an Aboriginal Canadian defendant.

Terror in the Justice System: Effects of Defendant Race and Religion on Juror Decision-Making in a Criminal Trial

“…Research has shown that when defendant and victim race are manipulated in a sexual assault case, the participants rated defendants as more guilty on a 7 point scale of subjective guilt when the defendant was Aboriginal Canadian as opposed to White Canadian (Pfeifer & Ogloff, 2003). Furthermore, Aboriginal Canadian defendants receive harsher sentence recommendations than White or Black defendants (Maeder, Yamamoto, & Saliba, 2015). In Canada, there has been some examination of which stereotypes exist (Corenblum & Stephan, 2001), how they might influence juror decision making (Maeder, Yamamoto, McManus & Capaldi, 2016), and how race salience moderates this effect (Maeder, Yamamoto & McManus, 2015), but this research is relatively new and only beginning to broach this topic.…”

Aboriginal Canadians in the Courtroom: Effects of Defendant and Eyewitness Race on Juror Decision-Making in a Criminal Trial

“…Unfortunately, irrelevant, extralegal factors such as attractiveness and gender often affect jurors' decisions in the courtroom (Mazzella & Feingold, 1994;McKimmie, Newton, Terry, & Schuller, 2004). Specifically, researchers have identified race as a variable influencing jurors' courtroom perceptions (Devine & Caughlin, 2014;Jones & Kaplan, 2003;Maeder & Burdett;Maeder, Yamamoto, & Saliba, 2015).…”

“…Initial experimental research has also indicated that prospective jurors discriminate against Aboriginal defendants in certain crime scenarios (Maeder & Burdett, 2013;Maeder et al, 2015).…”

“…Specifically, these negative stereotypes often relate to alcohol use. Although there is initial evidence to suggest that Aboriginal defendants are discriminated against (Avio, 1987(Avio, , 1988Maeder & Burdett, 2013;Maeder et al, 2015), it is unknown how other trial parties belonging to this racial group are treated in the courtroom. Therefore, the primary purpose of the current study was to investigate whether jurors possess racial bias regarding Aboriginal Canadian eyewitnesses, particularly when the eyewitness was intoxicated at the time of the crime.…”

“…The aversive racism framework would also predict that racial bias becomes evident when participants are asked to make a more ambiguous decision such as sentencing recommendations, where social norms dictating appropriate responses are less clear. In a study involving a sexual assault transcript, Maeder et al (2015) demonstrated that mock jurors assigned harsher sentences to defendants found guilty when they were Aboriginal compared to White or Black. Contrary to this, the current study observed no differences in sentencing recommendations between defendants who were Aboriginal and defendants who were White.…”