Juror Decision-Making in a Child Trafficking Case: The Impact of Defendant and Victim Gender, Defendant Age, and Defendant Status.

There has been an increase in human trafficking in Canada from 2018 to 2019, which suggests a rising trend in human trafficking, and as such, the number of court cases are likely increasing. Because of this, the current study sought to examine how a defendant and victim's gender, and defendant social status and age impacted mock jurors' decision-making in a child trafficking case. Participants (N = 584) read a mock trial transcript depicting a child trafficking case. They were then asked to render a verdict, answer questions relating to perceptions of the victim and defendant and rate their level of agreements on statements concerning sex and human trafficking. Although there was no effect on dichotomous verdict, mock jurors attributed higher guilt ratings to the male trafficker. Moreover, participants reported more favorable perceptions of the victim when the trafficker was female, and the victim was male compared to female. Participants also reported more favorable perceptions of the victim when the trafficker was of high social status and younger compared to older. Additionally, when mock jurors were well-informed about trafficking victim blaming did not occur. The results of the current study provide some insight into juror perceptions of child sex trafficking cases.

Mock-Jurors' Judgements in a Sexual Assault Case: The Influence of Defendant Race and Occupational Status, Delayed Reporting, and Multiple Allegations.

Reports of sexual offences have increased in recent years, with many cases involving allegations against high-status individuals (e.g., Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby). In addition, many of these cases have involved allegations against the defendant from multiple victims, with long delays in reporting of the alleged assault. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of defendant occupational status (low vs. high), defendant race (White, Black), number of allegations (one vs. five victims), and the length of reporting delay (5, 20, or 35 years) on mock-juror decision-making. Mock-jurors (N = 752) read a mock-trial transcript describing a sexual assault case. After reading the trial transcript, mock-jurors were asked to provide dichotomous and continuous guilt ratings, as well as ratings regarding their perceptions of the defendant and victim. Results revealed that mock-jurors rendered more guilty verdicts, assigned higher guilt ratings, and perceived the defendant less favorably and the victim more favorably, when the defendant was White (as opposed to Black) and when there were multiple allegations against the defendant. The current findings suggest that defendant race and the number of allegations are highly influential in the context of a sexual assault case.

The Effect of Delayed Reporting on Mock-Juror Decision-Making in the Era of #MeToo.

The #MeToo movement has given voice to victims of sexual harassment and assault. In many of these cases, there have been long delays in reporting of the sexual offence (e.g., the Harvey Weinstein case). The purpose of this study was to examine how the type of sexual offence (harassment vs. assault) and the length of delayed reporting (15, 25, 35 years) influenced mock-juror decision-making. Mock-jurors (N = 319) read a mock trial transcript depicting an alleged sexual offence and were asked to render a dichotomous verdict, continuous guilt rating, and defendant and victim perception ratings. The data indicated an effect of sexual offence type such that mock-jurors held more favorable perceptions of the defendant when the alleged offence was harassment compared with assault. There also was an effect of delayed reporting such that mock-jurors rendered more guilty verdicts when there was a 25-year delay compared with a 15-year delay. Intriguingly, these results suggest that jurors in sexual offence cases may perceive longer delays in reporting as more believable than shorter delays.

Abuse Is Abuse: The Influence of Type of Abuse, Victim Age, and Defendant Age on Juror Decision Making.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of victim age, defendant age, and type of abuse on mock juror decision making. Mock jurors (N = 556) read a trial transcript in which a soccer coach was accused of sexual abuse or physical abuse against a player. The victim's age (child, adolescent, or young adult), the defendant's age (young, middle age, or older adult), and the type of abuse (sexual or physical) were varied. Mock jurors provided a dichotomous and continuous verdict and rated their perceptions of the victim and the defendant. Although no differences on mock jurors' dichotomous verdict were found due to victim age, defendant age, or type of abuse, mock jurors provided higher guilt ratings when the abuse was sexual and both the victim and defendant were described as young adults. Similarly, mock jurors rated the victim more positively when the victim was described as a young adult (vs. child) for both sexual and physical abuse cases, and rated the defendant more positively when the victim was described as a child compared with young adult in sexual abuse cases. These findings suggest that mock jurors were largely influenced by victim age, particularly when the victim was described as an adult compared with a child.

Mock Jurors' Perceptions of Sexual Assault on a University Campus.

The purpose of this study was to examine how defendant gender, victim gender, location of sexual assault (professor's office vs. fraternity party), and whether the defendant was intoxicated influenced mock jurors' decisions in a sexual assault case. Mock jurors (N = 503) read a mock trial transcript depicting an alleged sexual assault and were asked to render a dichotomous verdict, continuous guilt rating, and rate their perceptions of the victim and defendant. There was no influence on mock jurors' dichotomous verdicts. However, the presence of intoxication did influence continuous guilt ratings; intoxicated defendants elicited higher guilt ratings compared to sober defendants. Whether the defendant was intoxicated and the location of the crime were found to impact mock jurors' perceptions of the defendant (e.g., believability, credibility); whereas the gender of the defendant affected the perceived control the defendant had over the situation. Victim gender was found to impact mock jurors perceptions of the victim, such that female victims were perceived more favorably than male victims; this may support the idea that male victims of sexual assault are generally perceived more negatively than female victims. These results, and more, are discussed in terms of the current study and the larger implications.

"But He's a Star Football Player!": How Social Status Influences Mock Jurors' Perceptions in a Sexual Assault Case.

There have been several recent, high-profile cases in the media that have shed light on the perceived leniency in sentencing defendants in sexual assault cases. In a number of these cases, the defendant was well known within their community (e.g., Brock Turner; People v. Turner) or nationally (e.g., Ghomeshi; R v. Ghomeshi). The purpose of this study was to examine how the social status of the defendant (low vs. high), victim social status (low vs. high), victim gender (male vs. female), and the reason the victim was unconscious during the assault (consuming alcohol vs. consuming cold medicine) influenced mock jurors' decisions in a sexual assault case. Mock jurors (N = 489) read a mock trial transcript depicting an alleged sexual assault. Mock jurors were asked to render a dichotomous verdict, continuous guilt rating, and rate their perceptions of the victim and defendant. There was no influence of the variables on mock jurors' dichotomous verdicts; however, social status influenced guilt ratings. There also was a combined influence of the defendant's social status and the reason the victim was unconscious such that when the defendant was described as low status, and the victim was unconscious due to alcohol consumption, the defendant received higher guilt ratings compared with when the victim was unconscious due to cold medicine. Moreover, the victim was perceived as having more control over the situation when the defendant was the star quarterback (i.e., high status), the victim was female, and she was unconscious due to alcohol consumption compared with cold medicine. These results suggest that victims may be blamed based on their perceived social status and other factors that may have influenced their control over the sexual assault, such as alcohol consumption.

Racial Composition of Couples in Battered Spouse Syndrome Cases: A Look at Juror Perceptions and Decisions.

This study manipulated the race of the defendant (wife) and the victim (husband)-White/White, White/Black, Black/Black, and Black/White-in a murder case involving a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) to examine the potential prejudicial impact of race on juror decision-making. A total of 244 jury-eligible American community members read a trial transcript of a murder case in which the defendant claimed self-defense using evidence of battered spouse syndrome. Participants provided a verdict, responsibility attributions, and their perceptions of the scenario. Findings revealed that the Black defendant (wife) was more likely to be found not guilty by reason of self-defense, and female jurors were overall more likely to acquit the defendant (wife) than were men. These results contribute to the scarce literature on the influence of race on perceptions of legal proceedings involving IPV.

Comparing Younger and Older Adult Eyewitnesses: Examining the Simultaneous, Elimination, and Wildcard Lineup Procedures.

Older adults (60- to 99-year-olds) and younger adults (18- to 49-year-olds) viewed a videotaped theft and were then asked to provide a description of the perpetrator. Following a brief delay, participants were presented with a simultaneous, elimination, or wildcard lineup procedure that was either target-present or target-absent. Overall, younger adult eyewitnesses were more likely to be correct in their identification decisions, reported more perpetrator descriptors, and had a higher proportion of accurate descriptors compared to older adults. Moreover, the simultaneous and elimination procedures were superior to the wildcard procedure in target-absent lineups. When presented with a target-present lineup, participants were more likely to be correct when presented with the simultaneous procedure compared to the elimination procedure. Neither of the identification procedures that have been shown to be beneficial with child eyewitnesses appear to have influenced the rate of correct identification or correct rejection for older adults as a separate age group.

Crime Scene Familiarity: Does it Influence Mock Jurors' Decisions?

The purpose of the present studies is to examine the influence of crime scene familiarity on mock jurors' decisions. Study 1 also examines eyewitness age and number of descriptor errors. In Study 2, the type of descriptor reported and the number of descriptor errors are examined. The participants were given a trial transcript involving a robbery. No effect of eyewitness age or crime scene familiarity was observed in Study 1; however, descriptor errors were found to decrease the number of guilty verdicts for the defendant. In Study 2, when crime scene descriptors were discussed by the eyewitness, crime scene familiarity was found to be influential such that when the eyewitness was familiar with the crime scene and reported crime scene descriptors with no errors, mock jurors were more likely to render a guilty verdict compared to when there were errors. These results suggest that an eyewitness' familiarity with the crime scene does have the potential to influence mock jurors' decision-making.

Secondary confessions: the influence (or lack thereof) of incentive size and scientific expert testimony on jurors' perceptions of informant testimony.

The goal of this research was to determine whether the size of the incentive (none, small, medium, or large, in terms of sentence reduction) a jailhouse informant receives for testifying, as well as scientific expert testimony regarding the fundamental attribution error, would influence mock juror decision-making in a criminal trial involving a secondary confession. Participants read a murder trial transcript involving informant testimony in which incentive size and expert testimony were manipulated and then provided verdict judgments, made attributions for the informant's decision to testify, and rated the informant and expert on a number of dimensions. Neither expert testimony nor size of incentive had a direct influence on verdicts. However, contrary to previous research on the influence of incentives on jurors' perceptions of secondary confessions, the presence of an incentive did influence verdict decisions, informant ratings, and attributional responses. Results imply that jury-eligible community members may be becoming aware of the issues with informant testimony as a function of incentive but that they are insensitive to the size of the incentive, and expert testimony may not sensitize them to the limitations of such testimony.