Who Is the Rotten Apple? Mock Jurors’ Views of Teacher–Student Sexual Contact

Abstract

The present study investigated mock jurors' ( N = 541) perceptions of a hypothetical case of teacher-student sexual contact. Mock jurors read a brief vignette describing an alleged sexual encounter where the gender and age of both the teacher and student were manipulated. Participants rendered legal decisions (i.e., verdict, degree of guilt, and sentence length), as well as culpability judgments pertaining to both the teacher and the student (i.e., blame, cause, and desire for the sexual contact). In addition, the effects of mock juror gender and attitudes regarding both rape myth acceptance and homophobia were investigated. Teacher gender and both teacher and student age predicted mock jurors' recommended sentences, with male teachers, older teachers, and younger students leading to greater sentences. Overall, student age was most consistently related to multiple culpability judgments, and the culpability judgments regarding the victim were the most consistently predicted by the independent variables. We did not find any evidence of homosexist attitudes, meaning that same-gender teacher-student contact was not judged any differently than opposite-gender contact. Worth noting, we found an interaction such that male students victimized by female teachers were judged to have wanted the contact more than any other gender combination, especially by male participants. The authors discuss these findings in the context of the child sexual abuse (CSA) literature concluding that many of the findings of more prototypical CSA cases extend to the teacher-student context. We also discuss the implications of these findings in terms of gendered judgments of adolescents who are victimized by teachers, possibly decided by legal professionals, school administrators, and jurors themselves. In particular, the three-way gender interaction can be interpreted in the context of stereotypes regarding sexual development marking sexual contact between adolescent males and older females as a "rite of passage" into adulthood.

The Influence of Gender on Perceptions of Culpability and Victim Status in Statutory Rape Offenses Involving Teachers

“…Although research suggests that people acknowledge the role of authority in defining consent (Sahl & Keene, 2012), the departure of student-teacher sexual relationships from CSA more generally is that many student-teacher relationships are characterized as consensual and normative instead of inherently abusive (A. Anderson et al, 2018). The age of the victim contextualizes these perceptions as older students are often perceived as able and willing to enter into sexual relationships with authority figures (Geddes et al, 2013) and perceptions surrounding the responsibility for and capability to consent to the relationship increases as the age of the child/adolescent increases and the teacher age difference decreases (Reitz-Krueger et al, 2016).…”

“…For instance, respondents recommend harsher punishments for male teachers and view them as taking advantage of students' immaturity and emotional and familial problems (A. Anderson et al, 2018;Dollar et al, 2004). Therefore, though men may enjoy more sexual freedom compared to women and are revered for having a large number of sexual partners (Kreager & Staff, 2009), men are judged more harshly for sexual relationships with teenage girls (Howell et al, 2011).…”

“…Conversely, relationships between teenage boys and adult women are more often viewed as sexual triumphs or valuable learning experiences (Broussard et al, 1991) and male students are perceived as being willing participants (A. Anderson et al, 2018). These perceptions have implications for how society defines "victim status" and attributes responsibility as well as how victims define their experiences.…”

“…To those who view homosexuality as morally wrong, same-sex student-teacher sexual contact is likely viewed more abhorrently (A. Anderson et al, 2018). In general, women hold more positive attitudes toward homosexuality (Baunach, 2012;Herek, 2002;Hicks & Lee, 2006;Hooghe, 2011).…”

“…The extent to which people define student-teacher relationships as either sexual abuse or normative is based, in part, on both the gender of the parties involved and the respondents (e.g., A. Anderson et al, 2018;Fromuth et al, 2010). For example, respondents are more likely to define relationships between a male minor and female teacher as a positive sexual experience, but perceive experiences between female minors and male teachers as potentially psychologically traumatic (Fromuth et al, 2010).…”