Changes in Certitude, Adherence, and Attitude: Immediate Effects of Rape Myth Intervention on Jurors in a Mock Trial

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated the prevalence and negative consequences of rape myths in various social contexts, including their impact on jury decision-making. The current study adopted a mixed methods design to explore how educating jurors about rape myths via a judge’s direction affected their decision-making regarding the guilt or innocence of a defendant in a rape case. Data were obtained from two mock trials and 12 questionnaire responses. The sample consisted of 12 women participants aged from 20 to 25. The thematic analysis indicated that participants who received rape myths education exhibited resistance to rape myths, increased scrutiny of the defendant as opposed to the complainant, and less disbelief of the complainant’s alleged behaviours. Quantitative analysis suggested a strong positive correlation between the understanding of rape myths education and its influence on decision making; however, this was only found in the intervention group. Findings showed insights into the possible advantages of rape myths education for jurors that were delivered via the judge’s direction. Future research directions and implications were discussed.

The association between gender role attitudes, rape myth acceptance and dating sexual violence: Different mechanisms among Chinese college students of different sexual orientations

“…The perpetrators and victims view the occurrence of violence differently, whereby the victims are usually negatively affected, and the perpetrators are inclined to blame the victims (Zheng, 2022, p. 44), justify their violence and perceive no harm has been done (Johnson et al., 1997). Scales used to measure RMA generally contain four main categories: blame the victims, excuse the rapist, doubt the allegation and suggest rape is exclusive to specific groups (Pang et al., 2022). Empirical studies have demonstrated that RMA is quite common among college students in China (Xue & Lin, 2022) and in other countries (Buddie & Miller, 2001).…”

Combatting Rape Myth Acceptance in United States' Criminal Justice System with Behavioral Economics

“…Intervention programs, like the Sexual Assault Intervention Training (SAIT) program can be delivered in the form of workshops, videos, courses, etc. in order to raise the jury's awareness of common rape myths as this has shown to result in greater allocation of blame towards the defendant rather than complainant and less fixation on irrelevant, illogical extralegal factors instead of the significant legal details (Pang et al, 2022). Experiments have also compared the immediate versus long term effects, and it's been illustrated by many studies that the most powerful impact on juror RMA is during the trial when the judge is providing instructions.…”