Race and ethnicity influences on mock-juror evaluations of eyewitness testimony.

These experiments were the first to manipulate both defendant and eyewitness race/ethnicity to examine their influence on mock jurors' decisions in a criminal case. In Experiment 1, Black mock jurors rated the testimony of an eyewitness as more credible and more important to their decisions when the eyewitness and defendant were of the same race, while White mock jurors rated all eyewitnesses similarly. In Experiment 2, Black and Hispanic mock jurors rated the testimony of a minority eyewitness as more important when the defendant in the case was of the same ethnicity but did not differ from White mock jurors in verdicts or sentencing decisions. Participants' political beliefs and confidence in the criminal justice system were associated with lengthier prison sentence recommendations, and system confidence was also associated with more guilty verdicts and more favorable evaluations of eyewitness testimony.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Nesbitt, Brittany Nicole, 1994-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Weaver, Chuck A. (Charles A.), III.

• Jury decision-making.
• Legal psychology.
• Eyewitness testimony.
• Racial bias.
• Political beliefs.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/10976

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/10976