Adjudication in Homicide: An Interpretive Analysis of the Effects of Defendant and Victim Social Characteristics

Abstract

Research on differential justice suggests the need for analyses of the independent and interactive effects of offender and victim social characteristics on judicial decisions. The article that follows addresses this issue through an application of analysis of variance to data on the adjudication of cases in homicide (N = 444 defendants and 432 victims). The findings of the study suggest that male defendants, white, female, and higher-status victims, and lower-status persons held in the death of those of higher status elicit the more severe legal response. We argue that this pattern may be a product of an interpretive process wherein authorities come to rely on the social attributes of actors in arriving at determinations of culpability in an offense characterized by complex social relationships. That the analysis reveals no differences in the adjudication of inter- and intraracial and inter- and intragender offenses, or independent effects of the defendant's race or occupational prestige on adjudication also has implications for the findings of prior research in these areas.