Defendants' Characteristics of Attractiveness, Race, and Sex and Sentencing Decisions

Abstract

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 unattractive defendants, African-American defendants would be given more harsh sentences than Euro-American defendants, and female defendants would receive significantly lesser sentences than male defendants. A fictitious burglary case with an attached picture of one of eight possible defendants was given to 160 participants who were asked to read the case and recommend either 1, 5, 10, 15, or 20 years' imprisonment as a sentence. All three hypotheses were supported. Possible reasons for these findings were discussed.