How Does Defendant Documentation Status Affect Mock Juror Decisions? Similarity of Defendant-Juror Ethnicity Matters

Hispanic and White undergraduates (N = 238) each read a scenario depicting a Hispanic defendant on trial for armed robbery; defendant documentation status (undocumented, natural-born citizen) and motive (more sympathetic, less sympathetic) were varied. Hispanic participants saw the defendant more favorably than White participants, even when the defendant was undocumented.