INTRODUCTION The influence of defendant gender and crime types towards juror decisions. Jury trials play a centrally important role in the law, therefore it is crucial for the juror to stay neutral in making decision. However, several research shows that stereotyping is one of the most debatable issues related to juries’ decision (Bornstein & Greene, 2011). In refer to Bornstein and Greene (2011), the stereotype that females and males generally labelled in specific crime be likely to be true in the largest sense. Thus, the significance of this study is to examine the effect of stereotype in defendant gender and crime types on the juror decision. McCoy and Gray (2007) examined the impact of defendant gender and relationship to victim on juror decisions in a child sexual abuse case. They manipulated the gender of the defendant (male or female) and the relationship (parent or stranger) to the abused child and ask the participants to be as mock jurors to rate the likelihood of guiltiness and their believability in each case. The results in McCoy and Gray (2007) study was that female defendants were less likely to be found guilty than were male defendants in an alleged child sexual assault case. While in the aspect of believability, despite of the male jurors, female jurors rated the victim as more convincing than the defendant. In relation to this topic, stereotyping theory has also been examined in the context of defendant race and crime type. Gordon et al. (1988) created a comparison between the race of defendant either black or white and the type of crime (burglary or embezzlement) with the rating of the participants on jail sentences. In support of the stereotype theory, the black burglar was rated to receive longer jail sentences... ... middle of paper ... ...of defendant. For improvement in later research on this topic, simulation of real condition to the participants is highly recommended for better result as this will taking account the aspect of emotional pressure that leads to stereotyping in real situation. REFERENCES Bornstein, B. H., and E. Greene. "Jury Decision Making: Implications For and From Psychology." Current Directions in Psychological Science 20.1 (2011): 63-67. Print. Gordon, R. A., Bindrim, T. A., McNicholas, M. L., & Walden, T. L. (1988). Perceptions of blue-collar and white-collar crime: The effect of defendant race on simulated juror decisions. The Journal of Social Psychology, 128(2), 191-197 McCoy, M. L. and J. M. Gray (2007). The impact of defendant gender and relationship to victim on juror decisions in a child sexual abuse case. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(7), 1578 - 1593.
Kassin, Saul, and Lawrence Wrightsman (Eds.). The Psychology of Evidence and Trial Procedure. Chapter 3. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1985. Print.
“A report by the United States General Accounting Office in 1990 concluded that 82 percent of the empirically valid studies on the subject show that the race of the victim has an impact on capital charging decisions or sentencing verdicts or both” (86).
Guilty or not guilty? This the key question during the murder trial of a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father. The play 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, introduces to the audience twelve members of a jury made up of contrasting men from various backgrounds. One of the most critical elements of the play is how the personalities and experiences of these men influence their initial majority vote of guilty. Three of the most influential members include juror #3, juror #10, and juror #11. Their past experiences and personal bias determine their thoughts and opinions on the case. Therefore, how a person feels inside is reflected in his/her thoughts, opinions, and behavior.
Smith, William (1997) “Useful or Just Plain Unfair? The Debate Over Peremptories; Lawyers, Judges Spllit Over the Value of Jury Selection Method” The Legal Intelligencer, April 23: pg 1.
... Cat. I am a cat. No. 4510.0, [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/2EFA897EF863196CCA2575CA00146304/$File/45100_2008.pdf, [Accessed 13 April 2011]. Taylor, N 2007, ‘Juror attitudes and biases in sexual assault cases’, Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, no. 1 (pp. 113-117).
Race and Ethnicity on Sentence Outcomes Under Different Sentencing Systems. Crime & Delinquency, 59(1), 87-114.
The acceptance that the court system often treats female offenders differently than male offenders is an accurate statement; however, it comes with many caveats. Generally, the public views women as nurturers, motherly and incapable of harming a child. Research indicates that female sex offenders capable of committing such acts have serious psychiatric and psychological problems. In comparison, research indicates male sex offenders are more callous, more antisocial, and promiscuous, involved in the criminal justice system, and have more victims (Miccio-Fenseca, 2012, slide 7). The consensus is that men commit their acts for sexual pleasure while women commit their acts due to psychiatric and psychological problems. Law enforcement, juries, and judges tend to empathize more when there are additional mitigating factors such as emotional or psychological problems. Due to these mitigating factors, it appears treatment of female sex offenders is more lenient than male if their crimes are similar in nature. Research by Miccio-Fenseca (2012) indicates that in comparison to their male counterparts, “female sex offenders rarely use force or violence far less than often…rarely use threats of violence to silence victims…rarely use threats o...
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2012). Forensic and Legal Psychology: Psychological Science Applied to Law. New York: Worth Publishers.
In modern-day America the issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is controversial because there is substantial evidence confirming both individual and systemic biases. While there is reason to believe that there are discriminatory elements at every step of the judicial process, this treatment will investigate and attempt to elucidate such elements in two of the most critical judicial junctures, criminal apprehension and prosecution.
Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers. Retrieved from http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf New Century Foundation. (2005). The Color of Crime: Race, Crime and Justice in America. Retrieved from http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.pdf Pearson Education. (2008).
Stevenson, D 2012, The function of uncertainty within jury systems, George Mason Law Review, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 513-548, viewed 6 May 2014, .
Although the United States system is based on the connotation of innocent until proven guilty and justice being blind to things such as race, ethnicity or social class (Kornblum & Julian), evidence proves otherwise. Racially discriminatory sentencing in non-capital cases demonstrated that young, black and Latino males receive a much harsher sentence, especially if unemployed compared to white offenders. The race of the victim also dictates the sentence. If the victim is white, than the black offender is much more likely to receive a harsher sentence than blacks who commit crimes against blacks. If the murdered victim is white, the offender has higher probabilities of receiving the death penalty (The Sentencing Project). Race is an indisputable factor in the sentencing process and teaches that black lives are not as important as those of
Regan, P.C. & Baker, S.J. (1998). The impact of child witness demeanor on perceived credibility and trial outcome in sexual abuse cases. Journal of Family Violence, 13(2), 187-195.
Before the jury stands the defendant. There is overwhelming evidence in the favor of the prosecution. The verdict comes back from the jury, not guilty. Why? The defendant is a woman. In our era of equal rights and civil liberties women have made great strides in their advancement and role in society, yet it seems that gender segregates when it comes to crime. There have been countless cases where women and men have been tried for the same crime, yet when it comes to verdict and sentencing, the results don’t necessarily match. If one commits a crime one should be punished accordingly regardless of gender. In our society we seem to have two separate rules for our criminals, one for men and one for women. The key issue is are men and women treated equally by the criminal justice system. Another issue in gender biased sentencing is in its is its severity. Are women sentenced heavier for certain crimes then men.
Greene, E., Heilbrun, K., Fortune, W. H., & Nietzel, M. T. (2006). Psychology and the legal system (6th ed.). Florence, KY: Cengage Learning.