Interactive effects of characteristics of defendant and mock juror on US participants' judgment and sentencing recommendations

The authors examined the effects of interactions (a) between defendant attr activeness and juror gender and (b) between defendant race and juror race o n judgment and sentencing among 207 Black, Hispanic, and White participants in the United States. After reading a vehicular-homicide vignette in which the defendant's attractiveness and race varied, the participants rated gui lt and recommended sentences. The women treated the unattractive female def endant more harshly than they treated the attractive female defendant; the men showed an opposite tendency. The Black participants showed greater leni ency when the defendant was described as Black rather than White. The Hispa nic participants showed an opposite trend, and the White participants showe d no race-based leniency. The findings on racial effects were consistent (a ) with in-group favorability bias among the Black participants and (b) with attribution effects unrelated to race among the White participants.