DEFENDANTS CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTRACTIVENESS, RACE, AND SEX AND SENTENCING DECISIONS

This experiment examined several factors thought to be influential in jurors' decisions. Specifically, the attractiveness, race, and sex of the defendant were manipulated. It was hypothesized that for the same crime attractive defendants would be given lesser sentences than unatt ractive defendants, African-American defendants would be given more ha rsh sentences than Euro-American defendants, and female defendants wou ld receive significantly lesser sentences than male defendants. A fict itious burglary case with an attached picture of one of eight possible defendants was given to 160 participants who were asked to read the c ase and recommend either 1, 5, 10, 15, or 20 years' imprisonment as a sentence. All three hypotheses were supported. Possible reasons for th ese findings were discussed.