Economically disadvantaged juvenile offenders tried in adult court are perceived as less able to understand their actions, but more guilty
We investigated the influence of a juvenile defendant's socioeconomic status (SES) on mock jurors’ perceptions of a juvenile tried in adult court. As predicted, participants convicted the low SES juvenile defendant of felony murder significantly more than the middle or high SES
juvenile defendant. Yet, participants also rated the low SES juvenile as less mature than the middle or high SES juvenile – a belief that past research shows predicts leniency in verdicts (i.e., not guilty judgments). Finally, stereotypes about the criminality of low SES juvenile defendants,
not a lack of perceived similarity, partially mediated the effect of SES on guilt.
Keywords: guilty and responsibility; juror decision-making; juvenile offenders; socioeconomic status; stereotypes
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA 2: Department of Psychology, University of Evansville, Evansville, IN, USA
Publication date: 01 September 2013
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