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Using Mock Jury Studies to Measure Community Sentiment Toward Child Sexual Abusers

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Handbook of Community Sentiment

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Abstract

In the legal system, jurors serve as a reflection of community sentiment. Jurors’ task is to “find facts” and apply the law to those facts, but in the course of doing so, they necessarily make moral judgments about how bad a crime or criminal is when they render verdicts. This process allows jurors to express their own sentiments, which are reflected in their ultimate verdict. The current chapter describes two studies that assessed some of those sentiments by examining how mock jurors perceive child sexual abuse perpetrators based on the relationship between the perpetrator and child. Legally, judgments of the perpetrator should be stable regardless of the relationship between the perpetrator and the child; however, results indicated that mock jurors may be considering the relationship between the perpetrator and the child when making decisions. The chapter also addresses the challenges and benefits of assessing community sentiment through mock juror experiments and surveys.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA

    Krystia Reed

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 335 Burnett Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA

    Brian H. Bornstein Ph.D.

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  1. Krystia Reed
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  2. Brian H. Bornstein Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Krystia Reed .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA

    Monica K. Miller

  2. Syracuse University College of Law, Syracuse, New York, USA

    Jeremy A. Blumenthal

  3. Arizona School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

    Jared Chamberlain

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Reed, K., Bornstein, B.H. (2015). Using Mock Jury Studies to Measure Community Sentiment Toward Child Sexual Abusers. In: Miller, M., Blumenthal, J., Chamberlain, J. (eds) Handbook of Community Sentiment. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1899-7_4

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