Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine how a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity influenced mock-juror decision-making in an aggravated sexual assault case. University students were recruited to take on the role as mock jurors (N = 375) and read a mock trial transcript depicting an alleged aggravated sexual assault and were asked to render a dichotomous verdict and continuous guilt rating; rate the credibility, believability, honesty, accuracy, and reliability of the witness/victim and the defendant; and complete the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale for Heterosexuals (LGB-KASH) and the International Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA). Results show that victim sex and gender identity resulted in significant differences in dichotomous verdict, with mock jurors rendering more guilty verdicts when the victim was male or female compared to transgender male. No influence based on sexual orientation, sex, or gender identity was found for mock jurors’ continuous verdict or perceptions of victim or defendant. However, scores on the LGB-KASH and IRMA influenced juror verdict outcomes suggesting that attitudes may play in a role in juror decision-making when the defendant is non-heterosexual.
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Notes
We say “perceived female bodies” as not all people who have xx chromosome bodies identify as female or as a girl or a woman regardless of whether society perceives them as female. This terminology is used to be more inclusive and accurate to all gender identities and expressions.
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Dr. Ellingwood created the idea for the study and wrote the majority of the introduction and discussion; Dr. Pica analyzed results and wrote the method and results and the remainder of the discussion; both Dr. Pozzulo and Ms. Schultheis contributed to editing the manuscript.
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Ellingwood, H., Pica, E., Pozzulo, J. et al. The Influence of Victim Sexual Orientation, Gender, and Gender Identity on Mock Jurors’ Judgments. J Police Crim Psych 38, 461–468 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-022-09533-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-022-09533-7