Juror perceptions of African American- and Arabic-named victims

Abstract

Despite post-9/11 anti-Arabic bias in the USA, few data currently exist evaluating juror perceptions of Arabic persons in court proceedings. Utilizing manipulation of racially derived victim names, the present study evaluated perceptions of blame and guilt in violent crimes against Arabic, African American and Caucasian victims. Participants were 249 jury-eligible panel members reporting for jury service in a large urban jurisdiction in the state of Texas. A perpetrator who assaulted an Arabic victim was blamed less than one who assaulted a Caucasian or African American victim, but juror race moderated this effect. This pattern of bias against victims with Arabic names was observed among Latin American jurors but not among Caucasian or African American jurors. Juror need for cognition did not moderate the victim name effect, being straightforwardly, positively related to perceptions of perpetrator blame. These findings are discussed with reference to modern racism and their implications for research and jury consultation.

Key words:

• 9/11
• juror bias
• names
• need for cognition
• victim race

Notes

1. This article was presented at the 2012 conference of the American Psychology–Law Society in San Juan, Puerto Rico.