Revealing Bias in the Courtroom: How Defendant Gender and Interviewer Type Influence Juror Perceptions in a Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Trial
Disciplines
Social Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Individuals who are commercially sexually exploited (CSE) through force, fraud, and/or coercion or who are minors are victims of trafficking. Recently, psychology, public health, and legal scholars have increasingly focused on this global issue. Increased awareness has resulted in intensified efforts to prosecute sex trafficking perpetrators, especially those who are harming children, but little is known about juror decision-making in these cases. As such, it is important to understand how jurors may use certain factors in their individual deliberation processes. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may influence mock juror decision-making in a case of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) using a 2 (Defendant Gender) x 2 (Type of Interviewer: Clinical Forensic Interviewer vs. Law Enforcement Interviewer) between-participants design. Jury-eligible adults were randomly assigned to read one of four brief trial summaries of the case and complete an online questionnaire evaluating guilt ratings, verdict, confidence, witnesses’ believability, witnesses’ credibility, and demographics. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and analysis of variance were used to analyze the pilot data. The preliminary results revealed a main effect of defendant gender, with jurors being more pro-prosecution when the defendant is male rather than female. A main effect of interviewer type was not significant. However, there was a significant interaction such that jurors were more likely to be pro-prosecution when the defendant is male, and a clinical forensic interviewer testified. The findings from this study may offer insights on defendant gender bias and how the type of interviewer can impact trial outcomes. Understanding these factors may inform best practices for forensic and law enforcement interviewers and improve justice for trafficking victims.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Jennifer Willard
Revealing Bias in the Courtroom: How Defendant Gender and Interviewer Type Influence Juror Perceptions in a Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Trial
Individuals who are commercially sexually exploited (CSE) through force, fraud, and/or coercion or who are minors are victims of trafficking. Recently, psychology, public health, and legal scholars have increasingly focused on this global issue. Increased awareness has resulted in intensified efforts to prosecute sex trafficking perpetrators, especially those who are harming children, but little is known about juror decision-making in these cases. As such, it is important to understand how jurors may use certain factors in their individual deliberation processes. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may influence mock juror decision-making in a case of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) using a 2 (Defendant Gender) x 2 (Type of Interviewer: Clinical Forensic Interviewer vs. Law Enforcement Interviewer) between-participants design. Jury-eligible adults were randomly assigned to read one of four brief trial summaries of the case and complete an online questionnaire evaluating guilt ratings, verdict, confidence, witnesses’ believability, witnesses’ credibility, and demographics. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and analysis of variance were used to analyze the pilot data. The preliminary results revealed a main effect of defendant gender, with jurors being more pro-prosecution when the defendant is male rather than female. A main effect of interviewer type was not significant. However, there was a significant interaction such that jurors were more likely to be pro-prosecution when the defendant is male, and a clinical forensic interviewer testified. The findings from this study may offer insights on defendant gender bias and how the type of interviewer can impact trial outcomes. Understanding these factors may inform best practices for forensic and law enforcement interviewers and improve justice for trafficking victims.