Gender Differences in Perception and Verdict in Relation to Uncorroborated Testimony by a Child Victim

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine how sex of mock jurors affected perception of child victim witnesses. Participants (N = 330) were asked to act as mock jurors, read a trial summary describing a sexual abuse case, and make decisions regarding the case. The case described a (6-8), (9-11), or (12-14) year old child that had allegedly been sexually abused by a stranger. The only evidence was the child's uncorroborated testimony. Participants were asked to rate the believability and importance of the child's testimony. They were also asked to assign a percentage of blame to the victim and to determine a verdict in the case. Contrary to expectations, main effects of age of victim were not found. However, as expected significant sex differences were found for a number of the case outcome variables. Males tended to rate the child's testimony as less believable and less important than females. In addition, males tended to assign more blame to the victim and yielded fewer guilty verdicts than females. No interactions between sex of juror and age of victim were found. Findings suggest that there is a relationship between juror sex and perception of uncorroborated child testimony in cases of sexual abuse. Potential reasons for this sex bias are discussed.