How age and race of defendant and victim influence mock jurors' perceptions in a child sexual molestation case

dc.creatorEscamilla, Guadalupe
dc.date.available2011-02-18T19:58:24Z
dc.date.issued2001-12
dc.degree.departmentPsychologyen_US
dc.description.abstractPeople often use preconceived biases to make judgments about other people. This phenomenon is also known to occur in the justice system. Juror bias research has investigated how characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, age, race, and gender, of a defendant can influence jurors' and even judges' decisions about guilt verdicts and sentencings. The characteristics of the victims have also been found to create biases in juror research. More specifically, in cases involving child sexual assault, the age of the victim has been found to influence jurors' perceptions. This dissertation investigated how the effects of defendant and victim characteristics (victim and defendant age and race) combined influenced jurors' perceptions of defendant guilt, defendant and victim credibility, honesty, responsibility, and mental competence. The results indicated that participant gender and victim age were far more likely to influence perceptions of the defendant and the victim. Defendant age did not influence results significantly.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2346/12525en_US
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherTexas Tech Universityen_US
dc.rights.availabilityUnrestricted.
dc.subjectStereotypeen_US
dc.subjectChild sexual abuseen_US
dc.subjectDiscrimination in criminal justice administrationen_US
dc.subjectJuryen_US
dc.titleHow age and race of defendant and victim influence mock jurors' perceptions in a child sexual molestation case
dc.typeDissertation
thesis.degree.departmentPsychology
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychology
thesis.degree.grantorTexas Tech University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.namePh.D.

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