Belief in a Just World and Jury Decisions in a Civil Rape Trial

Linda A. Foley · Melissa A. Pigott

54 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Applied Social Psychology

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Jury Decision Making Processes Social and Intergroup Psychology Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies

Abstract

When people's belief in a just world (BJW) is challenged, it can be restored by attributing blame to the victim or alleviating the victim's suffering. In criminal cases, jurors can attribute responsibility to victims, but cannot alleviate suffering. Participants (n= 106) heard a taped civil rape case. The effect of age of plaintiff, gender of participant, and type of participant on mock jurors' reactions to a plaintiff were examined. Participants evaluated responsibility of plaintiff and awarded monetary damages. It was hypothesized that, given this opportunity to compensate the victim, jurors would be less likely to derogate the victim. As hypothesized, women with high and low BJW attributed the same level of responsibility to the plaintiff but those with a high BJW awarded more monetaly damages. Men with high BJW awarded much less in damages than did men with low BJW. The just‐world theory appears to explain many of the decisions made by mock jurors.

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References

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2007The Demon Drink and the Demonized Woman: Socio-Sexual Stereotypes and Responsibility Attribution in Rape Trials Involving Intoxicants 2009Of ‘Normal Sex’ and ‘Real Rape’: Exploring The Use of Socio-Sexual Scripts in (Mock) Jury Deliberation 2015A Brief Report on Rape Myth Acceptance: Differences Between Police Officers, Law Students, and Psychology Students in the United Kingdom 2015Blame attributions in sexual crimes: Effects of belief in a just world and victim behavior 2013A ‘Special’ Delivery? Exploring the Impact of Screens, Live-Links and Video-Recorded Evidence on Mock Juror Deliberation in Rape Trials

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