Sexual Assault Case Summary

When it comes to sexual assault, it is the common belief that the offenders are male and the victims are female, but this is not always the case. In 2014, a study was done looking at the effects of victims, offender and juror gender could impact decisions in child sexual assault cases (Quas, Bottoms, Haegerich & Nysse-Carris). This case study was done by having mock jurors read scenarios of a man or a woman defendant accused of molesting a 15-year-old boy or girl. There were four different versions of the scenario where the 15-year-old student was allegedly assaulted by a 36-year-old teacher, who was also the soccer coach; the only difference in these scenarios was changing of the genders. The mock jurors would then state their verdicts and rated both the defendant
The results showed that female jurors were more pro-victim, compared to the males; females casted more guilty verdicts. For females, they were not influenced by the gender of either the defendant or victim. For males it showed that a female perpetrator was viewed more leniently than a man, especially when the victim was a boy. The males were influenced by the genders of the victim and defendant. The results also showed that women jurors considered the victim to be less responsible and the jurors all together, assigned more responsibility to the victim when it was a female perpetrator (Quas, et al., 2014). These results are important for forensic psychologists to be aware of when it comes to testifying and picking jurors for court because general stereotypes or ideas can greatly influence how the jurors will vote. Having a mostly female jury would most likely lead to more guilty votes, compared to a jury of mostly males. It is forensic psychologists job to find out the truth about the cases and not fall guilty to these types of naïve