Doctoral Dissertation Research: Juror Perceptions of Juveniles Transferred to Criminal Court: The Role of Generic Prejudice and Emotion in Determinations of Guilt.

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

As increasing numbers of juveniles are tried as adults in criminal court, researchers have begun to examine how jurors perceive these juveniles. Results of several studies suggest that jurors may judge a juvenile tried as an adult more harshly than an adult charged with the same crime; however, other research suggests that jurors show no bias against juveniles tried as adults. The present research aims to clarify this issue by examining the roles of generic prejudice and emotion in jurors' judgments of juveniles tried as adults. Generic prejudice is prejudice that is not specific to the defendant or other parties associated with a trial, but rather prejudice about a category of defendants or crimes. Jurors may judge a juvenile tried as an adult more harshly than they judge an adult charged with the same crime because of generic prejudice toward all juveniles tried as adults. Furthermore, the experience of certain emotions may facilitate this generic prejudice. According to the Appraisal-Tendency Framework, sadness and fear lead to greater systematic cognitive processing, while anger leads to greater heuristic processing, and in turn, greater reliance on stereotypes when making decisions. Study 1 of this project will assess which stereotypes people associate with juveniles tried as adults compared to juveniles tried in juvenile court and adults tried in criminal court. Study 2 of this project will examine to what extent angry, fearful, sad, and neutral mock jurors use these stereotypes to make judgments of guilt when presented with a juvenile tried as an adult, or an adult charged with the same crime. The present research will have implications for ensuring that juveniles transferred to criminal court receive a fair trial. Adjudication in criminal court can result in more severe punishment than adjudication in juvenile court, thus it is important to ensure that juveniles tried as adults are not judged more harshly than are adults charged with the same crimes.