{"title":"Not all eyewitnesses are equal: Accent status, race and age interact to influence evaluations of testimony","authors":"L. Frumkin, A. Stone","doi":"10.1080/15377938.2020.1727806","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Extralegal factors such as accent status, race and age may affect how someone is perceived in courtrooms. Even eyewitnesses who are not on trial may be rated less favorably as a result of such features. The current study measured accent status, race and age with 254 participants listening to oral witness statements. Results indicate eyewitnesses with higher-status accents were rated more favorably than those with lower-status accents and younger black eyewitnesses were rated higher than older black witnesses. White eyewitnesses were more favorably rated than black witnesses although this was qualified by results suggesting anti-norm deviance. The findings provide the criminal justice system with reasons to question how interactions among witness characteristics and with observer characteristics may influence court decisions.","PeriodicalId":45166,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2020-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15377938.2020.1727806","citationCount":"7","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2020.1727806","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 7
Abstract
Abstract Extralegal factors such as accent status, race and age may affect how someone is perceived in courtrooms. Even eyewitnesses who are not on trial may be rated less favorably as a result of such features. The current study measured accent status, race and age with 254 participants listening to oral witness statements. Results indicate eyewitnesses with higher-status accents were rated more favorably than those with lower-status accents and younger black eyewitnesses were rated higher than older black witnesses. White eyewitnesses were more favorably rated than black witnesses although this was qualified by results suggesting anti-norm deviance. The findings provide the criminal justice system with reasons to question how interactions among witness characteristics and with observer characteristics may influence court decisions.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice explores the prejudice that currently affects our judicial system, our courts, our prisons, and our neighborhoods all around the world. This unique multidisciplinary journal is the only publication that focuses exclusively on crime, criminal justice, and ethnicity/race. Here you"ll find insightful commentaries, position papers, and examinations of new and existing legislation by scholars and professionals committed to the study of ethnicity and criminal justice. In addition, the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice presents the latest empirical findings, theoretical discussion, and research on social and criminal justice issues.