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"Defendant's Gender Affects Length of Sentence"

By Douglas A. Berman

A helpful reader forwarded me this posting from ScienceDaily, which has a report with a headline that serves as the title of this post.  The piece reports on research from Sweden, and here are the basics: A study of 300 simulated court cases shows that experienced judges, lay assessors, prosecutors, police officers, and lawyers make decisions and convict defendants differently depending on whether they are men or women and what the defendant looks like. Eyewitnesses to crimes are also affected by these factors.  This is especially pronounced if there is an extended period of time separating the crime and the testimony.  This is what Angela S. Ahola, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, shows in her dissertation. In her study of simulated short criminal cases, Angela S...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 27, 2010 (boomark / email).