Juror Decision-Making in a Case Involving Police Use of Force: The Impact of Defendant Race, Victim Race, and Victim Gender on Verdict and Perceptions

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

In recent years, cases of police use of force have been making headlines and sparked a global conversation about racial bias in policing. As such, the current study aimed to uncover how race and gender impact juror decision-making in a case involving mistaken identity by police. We hypothesized that mock-jurors would be more likely to assign guilty verdicts and have a more negative perception of the defendant when the defendant is White versus Indigenous, and when the victim is White and female. Mock-jurors (N = 229) read one of eight fictional trial transcripts, provided a dichotomous verdict, and responded to questions regarding their perceptions of the defendant and the victim. While there was no significant impact on the dichotomous verdict or continuous guilt, the mock-jurors had a significantly more favourable perception of the Indigenous defendant.