Victim impact statements (VIS) are federally protected statements describing the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on a victim. States can decide the content and timing of the VIS, resulting in much variation. Previous research has found an effect of these variations on mock juror bias in capital trials. The current study examined if variations such as changing the strength of emotion, crime type, and including sentencing recommendation within a VIS affects the judgements of mock jurors. The results showed the sexual assault VIS produced higher guilt ratings and longer sentences. Furthermore, the inclusion of a high sentencing recommendation produced longer sentences. Additionally, guilt ratings were increased by the interaction of emotionality and anchor within the VIS. The results of this study suggest that variations in the implementation and presentation of VIS across states may be impacting the fairness of criminal trials and the rights of defendants.
","abstract_html":"<p> Victim impact statements (VIS) are federally protected statements describing the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on a victim. States can decide the content and timing of the VIS, resulting in much variation. Previous research has found an effect of these variations on mock juror bias in capital trials. The current study examined if variations such as changing the strength of emotion, crime type, and including sentencing recommendation within a VIS affects the judgements of mock jurors. The results showed the sexual assault VIS produced higher guilt ratings and longer sentences. Furthermore, the inclusion of a high sentencing recommendation produced longer sentences. Additionally, guilt ratings were increased by the interaction of emotionality and anchor within the VIS. The results of this study suggest that variations in the implementation and presentation of VIS across states may be impacting the fairness of criminal trials and the rights of defendants.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sutton, Emily"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts - Psychology","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Steven Estrada","Scott Drury","Scott Hutchens"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:37Z","subjects":["Victim Impact Statements","Sexual Assault","Physical Assault","Juror Bias","Law","Other Psychology","Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/496","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Steven Estrada","Scott Drury","Scott Hutchens"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sutton, Emily"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-05-04T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts - Psychology"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Victim Impact Statements","Sexual Assault","Physical Assault","Juror Bias","Law","Other Psychology","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/496"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Victim impact statements (VIS) are federally protected statements describing the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on a victim. States can decide the content and timing of the VIS, resulting in much variation. Previous research has found an effect of these variations on mock juror bias in capital trials. The current study examined if variations such as changing the strength of emotion, crime type, and including sentencing recommendation within a VIS affects the judgements of mock jurors. The results showed the sexual assault VIS produced higher guilt ratings and longer sentences. Furthermore, the inclusion of a high sentencing recommendation produced longer sentences. Additionally, guilt ratings were increased by the interaction of emotionality and anchor within the VIS. The results of this study suggest that variations in the implementation and presentation of VIS across states may be impacting the fairness of criminal trials and the rights of defendants.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Effects of Variations of Victim Impact Statements on Juror Bias"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Steven Estrada","Scott Drury","Scott Hutchens"],"dc:creator":["Sutton, Emily"],"dc:date.available":["2023-05-04T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Victim impact statements (VIS) are federally protected statements describing the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on a victim. States can decide the content and timing of the VIS, resulting in much variation. Previous research has found an effect of these variations on mock juror bias in capital trials. The current study examined if variations such as changing the strength of emotion, crime type, and including sentencing recommendation within a VIS affects the judgements of mock jurors. The results showed the sexual assault VIS produced higher guilt ratings and longer sentences. Furthermore, the inclusion of a high sentencing recommendation produced longer sentences. Additionally, guilt ratings were increased by the interaction of emotionality and anchor within the VIS. The results of this study suggest that variations in the implementation and presentation of VIS across states may be impacting the fairness of criminal trials and the rights of defendants.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/496"],"dc:subject":["Victim Impact Statements","Sexual Assault","Physical Assault","Juror Bias","Law","Other Psychology","Psychology"],"dc:title":["The Effects of Variations of Victim Impact Statements on Juror Bias"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts - Psychology"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:37Z"}