The Impact of Acquaintance Rape Stories and Case-Specific Pretrial Publicity on Juror Decision Making

Abstract

In the first of two experimental trial simulations, the authors manipulated exposure to publicity about the defendant and exposure to general stories about acquaintance rape that portrayed men as sexual predators. Participants then viewed an enacted acquaintance rape trial. Across many dependent measures, men exposed to the predatory rape publicity exhibited a pronounced pro-defendant tendency, whereas women were unaffected. Case-specific pretrial publicity had a relatively small impact. In a follow-up experiment, participants were exposed to the predatory acquaintance rape scenario or to a scenario emphasizing male-female miscommunication. Again, men exposed to the predatory publicity became more pro-defendant; men receiving the miscommunication scenario did not exhibit such an effect. The tendency of male jurors to react against information that reflects negatively on them is discussed in the context of psychological reactance and social judgement theory.

Prevalence and Effects of Rape Myths in Print Journalism

“…Of interest, sexual assault cases seem to present a counterexample to the common finding that pretrial publicity (PTP) usually biases potential jurors against defendants (for a review, see Devine, Clayton, Dunford, Seying, & Pryce, 2001); however, much PTP related to sexual assaults is antiprosecution and/or prodefendant. 6 Past researchers have found that men, in particular, are less likely to display an antidefendant bias after exposure to PTP for sexual assault cases (Hoiberg & Stires, 1973;Mullin, Imrich, & Linz, 1996). The current studies suggest a possible reason for PTP biases favoring defendants in sexual assault cases-namely, journalists' employment of rape myths.…”

Narrative Construction of Sexual Violence and Rape Online

“…Therefore, discourses about sexual violence in the media tend to enact rather than counter traditional rape myths about the role of the victim and perpetrator in the criminal act (Greer 2003;O'Hara 2012;Sela-Shayovitz 2015). Research indicates that print, radio and television media are more inclined to blame victims for their sexual assaults (Franiuk et al 2008), and sexual violence is the only crime where pre-trial publicity tends to bias jurors against the victim, not the defendant (Mullin, Imrich and Linz 1996). As with the criminal justice system the most commonly endorsed myth is that the victim is lying (Franiuk et al 2008).…”

Prevalence of Rape Myths in Headlines and Their Effects on Attitudes Toward Rape

“…During jury selection, Kobe Bryant's alleged victim decided not to testify in the trial, leading prosecutors to drop the charges against Bryant. Although most pretrial publicity typically biases jurors against the defendant, research has shown that the opposite bias occurs in sexual assault cases (Hoiberg and Stires 1973;Mullin et al 1996). Franiuk and colleagues (2008) suggested that exposure to rape myths in articles surrounding sexual assault cases may be one explanation of this prodefendant bias.…”