Abstract
Previous researchers have found that individuals who are exposed to negative pretrial publicity (PTP) are more likely to judge a defendant guilty than individuals exposed to little or no negative PTP. We examined whether or not minority defendants (black, Aboriginal) are differentially disadvantaged by negative PTP in comparison with white defendants within a Canadian context. Participants read an online newspaper article about a sexual assault case involving a white, black, or Aboriginal defendant and then answered questions regarding defendant culpability and their perceptions of their own abilities to be impartial jurors. The defendant’s ethnicity and the gender of the participant impacted perceptions of defendant culpability. Participants (particularly female participants) generally favored the black defendant and disadvantaged the Aboriginal defendant (in comparison with the white defendant). Despite this fact, participants generally felt they could be impartial and fair jurors. These findings suggest that current procedures for assessing—and trying to avoid—racial biases in jurors are insufficient.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bell, D. W., Esses, V. M., & Maio, G. R. (1996). The utility of open-ended measures to assess intergroup ambivalence. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 28(1), 12–18. doi:10.1037/0008-400X.28.1.12.
Blair, I. V., Judd, C. M., & Chapleau, K. M. (2004). The influence of Afrocentric facial features in criminal sentencing. Psychological Science, 15(10), 674–679. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00739.x.
Constitution Act (1982). Retrieved May 10th from http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-16.html#h-52.
Corenblum, B., & Stephan, W. G. (2001). White fears and Native apprehensions: An integrated threat theory approach to intergroup attitudes. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 33(4), 251–268. doi:10.1037/h0087147.
Correll, J., Park, B., Wittenbrink, B., & Judd, C. M. (2002). The police officer’s dilemma: Using ethnicity to disambiguate potentially threatening individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 1314–1329. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.83.6.1314.
Crawford, C., Chiricos, T., & Kleck, G. (1998). Race, racial threat and sentencing of habitual offenders. Criminology, 36(2), 481–511. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.1998.tb01256.x.
Czopp, A. M., & Monteith, M. J. (2006). Thinking well of African Americans: Measuring complimentary stereotypes and negative prejudice. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 28, 233–250. doi:10.1207/s15324834basp2803_3.
Daftary-Kapur, T., Dumas, R., & Penrod, S. D. (2010). Jury decision-making biases and methods to counter them. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15, 133–154. doi:10.1348/135532509X465624.
Department of Justice Canada. (2009). Canada’s system of justice. Canada: The Department of Justice Canada.
Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 5–18. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.56.1.5.
Devine, D. J., Clayton, L. D., Dunford, B. B., Seying, R., & Pryce, J. (2001). Jury decision making: 45 years of empirical research on deliberating groups. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 7(3), 622–727. doi:10.1037//1076-8971.7.3.622.
Devine, P. G., & Elliot, A. J. (1995). Are racial stereotypes really fading? The Princeton trilogy revisited. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1139–1150. doi:10.1177/01461672952111002.
Dixon, T. L., & Linz, D. (2002). Television news, prejudicial pretrial publicity, and the depiction of race. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 46(1), 112–136. doi:10.1207/s15506878jobem4601_7.
Donakowski, D. W., & Esses, V. M. (1996). Native Canadians, first nations or aboriginals: The effect of labels on attitudes toward native peoples. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 28, 86–91. doi:10.1037/0008-400X.28.2.86.
Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. E., Kawakami, K., & Hodson, G. (2002). Why can’t we just get along? Interpersonal biases and interracial distrust. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 8(2), 88–102. doi:10.1037//1099-9809.8.2.88.
Eberhardt, J. L., Davies, P. G., Purdie-Vaughns, V. J., & Johnson, S. L. (2006). Looking deathworthy: Perceived stereotypicality of Black defendants predicts capital-sentencing outcomes. Psychological Science, 17(5), 383–386. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01716.x.
Fein, S., Morgan, S. J., Norton, M. I., & Sommers, S. R. (1997). Hype and suspicion: The effects of pretrial publicity, race, and suspicion on jurors’ verdicts. Journal of Social Issues, 53(3), 487–502. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1997.tb02124.x.
Fiske, S. T., Cuddy, A. J. C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 878–902. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.82.6.878.
Florida department of corrections (2010). Retrieved June 10, 2010, from http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/search.asp.
ForsterLee, R., ForsterLee, L., Horowitz, I. A., & King, E. (2006). The effects of defendant race, victim race, and juror gender on evidence processing in a murder trial. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 24, 179–198. doi:10.1002/bsl.675.
Glick, P., & Fiske, S. T. (1996). The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 491–512. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.70.3.491.
Guy, L. S., & Edens, J. F. (2003). Juror decision making in a mock sexually violent predator trial: Gender differences in the impact of divergent types of expert testimony. Behavioral Science and the Law, 21, 215–237. doi:10.1002/bsl.529.
Jackiw, L. B., & Arbuthnott, K. D. (2008). First Nations photographs. Saskatchewan, Canada: University of Regina.
Maio, G. R., Esses, V. M., & Bell, D. W. (2000). Examining conflict between components of attitudes: Ambivalence and inconsistency are distinct constructs. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 32(2), 71–83. doi:10.1037/h0087102.
Moran, G., & Cutler, B. L. (1991). The prejudicial impact of pretrial publicity. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 345–367.
Payne, B. K. (2001). Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 181–192. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.81.2.181.
Payne, D. L., Lonsway, K. A., & Fitzgerald, L. F. (1999). Rape myth acceptance: Exploration of its structure and its measurement using the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 33(1), 27–68. doi:10.1006/jrpe.1998.2238.
Rotenberg, K. J., & Cerda, C. (2001). Racially based trust expectancies of Native American and Caucasian children. The Journal of Social Psychology, 134(5), 621–631. doi:10.1080/00224545.1994.9922992.
Russell, B. L., Oswald, D. L., & Kraus, S. W. (2011). Evaluations of sexual assault: Perceptions of guilt and legal elements for male and female aggressors using various coercive strategies. Violence and Victims, 26(6), 799–815. doi:10.1891/0886-6708.26.6.799.
Ruva, C., Mcevoy, C., & Bryant, J. B. (2007). Effects of pretrial publicity and jury deliberation on juror bias and source memory errors. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21, 45–67. doi:10.1002/acp.1254.
Schuller, R. A., Kazoleas, V., & Kawakami, K. (2009). The impact of prejudice screening procedures on racial bias in the courtroom. Law and Human Behavior, 33, 320–328. doi:10.1007/s10979-008-9153-9.
Sommers, S. R. (2007). Race and the decision making of juries. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 12, 171–187. doi:10.1348/135532507X189687.
Statistics Canada. (1999). A one-day snapshot of inmates in Canada’s adult correctional facilities, 1999 (No. 85-601-XIE). Ottawa, Ontario: Author. Retrieved from http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=85-601-XIE&lang=eng.
Steblay, N. M., Besirevic, J., Fulero, S. M., & Jimenez-Lorente, B. (1999). The effects of pretrial publicity on juror verdicts: a meta-analytic review. Law and Human Behavior, 23(2), 219–235.
Sweeney, L. T., & Haney, C. (1992). The influence of race on sentencing: A meta-analytic review of experimental studies. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 10, 179–195. doi:10.1002/bsl.2370100204.
United States Department of Justice. (2010). Number of state prisoners declined by almost 3,000 during 2009; federal prison population increased by 6,800. Washington: Author.
Vandiver, D. M., & Dupalo, J. R. (2013). Factors that affect college students’ perceptions of rape: What is the role of gender and other situational factors? International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 57(5), 592–612. doi:10.1177/0306624X12436797.
Werhun, C. D., & Penner, A. J. (2010). The effects of stereotyping and implicit theory on benevolent prejudice toward Aboriginal Canadians. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(4), 899–916. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00603.x.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
An example of the newspaper article (Aboriginal condition) .
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Clow, K.A., Lant, J.M. & Cutler, B.L. Perceptions of Defendant Culpability in Pretrial Publicity: The Effects of Defendant Ethnicity and Participant Gender. Race Soc Probl 5, 250–261 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9102-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9102-1