The Effects of Variations of Victim Impact Statements on Juror Bias

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts - Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2023

Author dc:creator

• Sutton, Emily

Contributors dc:contributor

• Steven Estrada
• Scott Drury
• Scott Hutchens

• Victim Impact Statements
• Sexual Assault
• Physical Assault
• Juror Bias
• Law
• Other Psychology
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/496

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1525