Juror Decision Making: Effects of Defendant Age and Sex on Juror Verdicts, Culpability Judgements, and Impressions of Defendants and Attorneys

The study explored how defendant sex and age (young, middle, or older) affect mock-jurors’ (N=316) verdicts, culpability ratings, credibility ratings, and attorney evaluations. The influence of individual characteristics (emotions, sexism, need for cognition, and mortality salience) on jurors’ decisions/impressions was also explored and found to depend upon case-related variables.