Citation

Levi MM, Lynch KR, Golding JM. Violence Against Women 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/10778012211026002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We examined the impact of attorney gender on perceptions of a criminal rape trial. Community members (N = 208) read a trial summary describing a rape scenario in which the gender of the prosecuting and defense attorney were manipulated. The results revealed indirect effects of prosecuting and defense attorney gender on verdict through perceptions of characteristics related to attorney competency. Qualitative analyses further showed that the terms "strength" and "powerful" were central to juror perceptions of male attorneys, whereas the terms "sensitive" and "sympathy" were central when the attorneys were female.

Language: en

Keywords

sexual assault; rape; attorney gender; jury decision-making