Sentencing severity with mock jurors: Predictive validity of three variable categories

Osborne, Yvonne Hardaway; Rappaport, Neil B.

doi:10.1002/bsl.2370030411

Cited by 30 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Perpetrators with lower SES are more likely to be convicted than perpetrators with high SES. Perpetrators with higher SES are seen less blameworthy and they are assigned shorter sentences (Gleason and Harris, 1976; Osborne and Rappaport, 1985). However, occupational social status does not affect jurors’ verdict directly, but high SES perpetrators are perceived as having better potentials in the future (Loeffler and Lawson, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of a Perpetrator as a Successful Person Predicts Decreased Moral Judgment of a Rape Case and Labeling it as Rape

et al. 2018

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Rape cases of celebrities and other influential figures have caught the public eye in recent years. Following the media attention to these cases, people made strong judgments either believing or doubting the victims. Even though some of these men were convicted, they tended to receive little jail time and continued to enjoy people’s sympathy, as in the case of the Hungarian national swimming-coach. We examined whether opinions about the coach’s rape were affected by rape myth acceptance (RMA) and the perception of the perpetrator as a successful person. We conducted two online surveys to reveal this connection at two different points. The case was still somewhat ambiguous at the time of data collection for Study 1 (N = 870) because the perpetrator denied it. However, Study 2 (N = 105) took place after the perpetrator admitted his crime. In line with our predictions, we found that in the uncertain context of Study 1, RMA and the perception of the perpetrator as a successful person predicted whether respondents labeled the incident as rape, and how the perpetrator’s reactions were judged morally. In the certain condition of Study 2, RMA continued to predict moral judgments, but it no longer predicted whether the incident was labeled as rape. These findings showed that in the evaluation of a rape case of a popular and powerful person, perception of the perpetrator’s success can affect the overall evaluation of the case based on the level of RMA. However, such a connection is more pronounced when there are still ambiguities regarding the rape. We therefore suggest that both RMA and the effect of the overall perception of the perpetrator are considered in rape prevention programs, because rape cases rarely appear as certain and unambiguous in the media.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of a Perpetrator as a Successful Person Predicts Decreased Moral Judgment of a Rape Case and Labeling it as Rape

et al. 2018

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“…Generally, preferential treatment is given to people with higher social class backgrounds, an effect that has been observed in many sectors of society, including education, medicine, and involvement in the criminal justice system (Freeman, 2006; Lott, 2002, 2012; Mazzella & Feingold, 1994). In experimental studies, identical behaviors elicit more positive evaluations when coming from a higher versus lower SES person (Freeman, 2006; Goodman & Gareis, 1993; Kirby, 1999; Lott & Saxon, 2002; Osborne & Rappaport, 1985; Skolnick & Shaw, 1997). For example, when Lott and Saxon (2002) asked participants to evaluate a brief biography of a woman and manipulated whether the woman was from a lower class or middle-class background, while keeping all other information the same, participants viewed the lower class character as less suitable for a leadership position and less desirable as a romantic partner than the middle-class character.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The rich—love them or hate them? Divergent implicit and explicit attitudes toward the wealthy

Horwitz

Dovidio

2016

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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Adding to a growing body of work on the psychology of social class, the present research examined implicit and explicit attitudes toward rich people, standing out from much previous work that has focused on negative evaluations of people with low socioeconomic status (SES). Across three studies, we found that participants (who typically identified as middle class) implicitly, but not explicitly, favored the rich over the middle class. Although financial resources represent a continuum objectively, attitudes toward the rich seem to be conceptually distinct from evaluations of low-SES people. Additionally, we demonstrated that implicit prorich attitudes uniquely predict leniency on a rich driver who causes a car accident, while explicit attitudes do not predict such judgments. This work expands and clarifies knowledge of implicit wealth attitudes and suggests that implicit prorich attitudes are an important factor in understanding how social class influences daily life.

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“…First, to see how sexual assaults that occur between different socioeconomic targets (e.g., high-SES perpetrator, low-SES survivor and vice versa) would be perceived both in cases of survivor and perpetrator culpability and perpetrator sentencing recommendations. Although the literature shows that low-SES perpetrators often receive harsher sentences than high-SES perpetrators (Mazzella & Feingold, 1994; Osborne & Rappaport, 1985), I do not yet know whether differences in the assailant’s SES influence perceptions of low and high-SES survivors. Although Yamawaki et al (2007) found that low-status survivors of high-status attackers were more likely to be blamed for the rape, the manipulation of status did not actually reflect SES differences between the survivor and attacker.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Courtrooms are a setting in which classism influences judgments of low-SES individuals. Previous research has shown that male defendants who are presented as low-SES as compared to high-SES are seen as more blameworthy (Gleason & Harris, 1976) and receive harsher punishment (Mazzella & Feingold, 1994; Osborne & Rappaport, 1985). Individual factors, such as a belief in a “just world,” may moderate such classist effects, so that participants who endorse more just world attitudes believe low-SES defendants to be guiltier than high-SES defendants (Freeman, 2006).…”

Section: Victim Blame and Classismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Class and Sexuality-Based Stereotyping on Rape Blame

Spencer

2016

Sexualization, Media, & Society

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In order to investigate whether stereotypes about sexuality can impact perceptions of sexual assault, participants read a scenario that described a situation in which a woman reported being raped. The woman's socioeconomic status (SES) was varied, so that she appeared to be of low or high-SES. Following the vignette, participants completed explicit measures that assessed victim blame, attitudes toward rape victims, and perceived promiscuity. Participants also answered an open-ended question that was coded for minimizing and maximizing language. Last, participants completed an ''attitude survey'' that measured classist attitudes. It was hypothesized that participants who read about the low-SES woman would show more rape blame, display more negative attitudes about rape victims, respond to the open-ended question with more minimizing language, and perceive her as being more promiscuous. It was also predicted that these explicit measures would be positively correlated and that the language measure would be moderated by participants' classism. Results supported these hypotheses. Participants who read about the low-SES survivor showed more negative attitudes, believed her to be more culpable, and more promiscuous. The explicit measures were positively correlated. Additionally, participants differed in linguistic minimization and maximization, such that participants who were low in classism were more likely to maximize the low-SES target's experience, whereas participants who were high in classism were more likely to minimize the low-SES target's experience. Taken together, these results suggest that low-SES women are stereotyped as being promiscuous and that this stereotype affects how they may be blamed after cases of sexual assault. Public Health Significance Statement: The results of this study suggest that low-socioeconomic status (SES) survivors of assault are more likely to be blamed and found culpable for the assault than high-SES women. These attitudes correlate with stereotypes about low-SES women's sexuality.

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Sentencing severity with mock jurors: Predictive validity of three variable categories

Cited by 30 publications

References 15 publications

Perception of a Perpetrator as a Successful Person Predicts Decreased Moral Judgment of a Rape Case and Labeling it as Rape

Perception of a Perpetrator as a Successful Person Predicts Decreased Moral Judgment of a Rape Case and Labeling it as Rape

The rich—love them or hate them? Divergent implicit and explicit attitudes toward the wealthy

The Impact of Class and Sexuality-Based Stereotyping on Rape Blame

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