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Journal of Interpersonal Violence
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Perceptions of Domestic Violence and Mock Jurors' Sentencing Decisions

Rosalie Kern

Michigan Technological University, rpkern{at}mtu.edu

Terry M. Libkuman

Central Michigan University

Stacey L. Temple

Central Michigan University

The purpose of the investigation was to examine the influence of the victim's provocation and hopefulness on the sentencing of a husband convicted of domestic violence. It was hypothesized that mock jurors would assign less-severe sentencing if the victim was provoking and hopeful. Mock jurors read one of four factorial court case combinations of provocation and hopefulness and rendered an individual predeliberation sentence and a group postdeliberation sentence. Analyses revealed a significant effect of provocation, indicating that participants reduced the sentencing for the defendant when the wife was provoking relative to when she was not provoking. The analyses also revealed an effect of gender on predeliberation sentencing, with women delivering more-severe sentences than men. The effect of gender was not present in the postdeliberation sentencing, indicating that deliberation produced a sentencing compromise between women and men. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Key Words: jury • sentencing • deliberation • domestic violence • provocation

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Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 22, No. 12, 1515-1535 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0886260507306476
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This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
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Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
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Right arrow Articles by Kern, R.
Right arrow Articles by Temple, S. L.
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Right arrow Articles by Kern, R.
Right arrow Articles by Temple, S. L.
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What's this?