Characteristics of the Defendant

Question 1

Three things that can influence jury verdicts

Answer 1

• attractiveness
• race
• gender

Question 2

Attractiveness ao1

Answer 2

• more attractive= less likely to be thought of as guilty
• viewed more favourably for their personality traits or characteristics than those who are less attractive
• halo effect- associate positive characteristics with ‘pretty’
• comes from stereotypes of villains in media- never seen as pretty
• positive characteristics associated are intelligent, friendly, honest
• if the victim is more attractive than the defendant, this increases guilt

Question 3

Attractiveness supporting study

Answer 3

• schvey et al
• found that obese female defendants were judged more hardshly than slim female jurors
• showing that appearance does affect the decision making of a jury
  BUT, no objective way of measuring attractiveness, subjective opinion, so difficult to measure

Question 4

Attractiveness to aid crime

Answer 4

• research has shown that in general attractive defendants are treated better than unattractive ones in gaining acquittal
• however, this is not the case if they use their attractiveness to aid their crime
• such as a secretary stealing information

Question 5

Research which supports attractiveness and type of crime

Answer 5

• castellow
• used a mock jury or a case of a 23 year old secretary accusing her male employer of sexual harassment
• found that the verdict was most likely at 83% when attractive secretary and unattractive employer photo combo
• least likely at 4% when unattractive secretary and attractive employer
• so therefore this supports the idea that juries make judgements based on appearance
• HOWEVER, mock juries have low mundane realism

Question 6

Gender ao1

Answer 6

• use stereotypes to make judgements and use gender roles in society
• McCoy and Gray suggest that jurors see female defendants as more believable than male defendants
• female defendants seen as mothers with primary responsibility for their children which makes it seem unlikely they would commit a serious crime
• however, a woman is more likely to be judged as guilty BECAUSE she violated her gender role, so viewed in negative terms, therefore more likely to be guilty
• males seen as more risk taking and aggressive, so more likely to be found guilty of violent crimes in general
• therefore, it a crime violates a traditional gender role, they are more likely to be found guilty

Question 7

Research to support gender roles

Answer 7

• cruse and Leigh
• relationship ended due to a violent assault in a mock trial
• one group told that jack bailey knifed Lucy hill, found guilty 43% of the time
• Lucy hill knifed jack bailey found guilty 69% of the time

Question 8

Race ao1

Answer 8

• stereotypes of race are attributed to different crimes
• black defendants found guilty of violent crimes more than white defendant
• shown in prison populations- ethnic minorities make up 8% of the general population, but 15% of the prison population.
• black defendants also receive harsher sentences than a white defendant for the same crime