Character of the Defendant and Length of Sentence in Rape and Burglary Crimes

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Abstract
Because of the nature of the jurors used, the type of crime studied, and the means of selecting simulated jurors, previous research on the effects of defendant character or attractiveness on juror decision making by Americans may be juror or crime specific. To test this possibility, defendant character, sex, race, and nature of the crime (rape and burglary) were systematically varied in written cases which were distributed to 120 randomly selected men and women. Character of the defendant had a significant effect in a case involving rape but played only a minor role in juror sentencing in a burglary case. The results confirmed earlier findings which have suggested that defendant attractiveness influences juridic judgment in person-oriented crimes; however, attractiveness may be less significant in defendant sentencing in property-oriented crimes.