Legal News

Although justice is supposed to be "blind," a new study finds that attractiveness influences conviction and sentence length.  Cornell University researchers found that unattractive defendants are 22 percent more likely to be convicted, and tend to get hit with longer, harsher sentences - with an average of 22 months longer in prison recommended by the study's participants. The study identified two kinds of potential jurors: Those who reason emotionally and give harsher verdicts to unattractive defendants, and those who reason rationally and focus less on defendants' looks. One processes information based on facts, analysis and logic. The other reasons emotionally and may consider such legally irrelevant factors as a defendant's appearance, race, gender and class, and report that the less-attractive defendant appeared more like the "type of person" who would commit a crime.

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