Juror Decision-Making in a Child Trafficking Case: The Impact of Defendant and Victim Gender, Defendant Age, and Defendant Status

There has been an increase in human trafficking in Canada from 2018 to 2019, which suggests a rising trend in human trafficking, and as such, the number of court cases are likely increasing. Because of this, the current study sought to examine how a defendant and victim’s gender, and defendant socia...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Pica, Emily (Autor)
Otros Autores: Hildenbrand, Alexa ; Fraser, Laura ; Pozzulo, Joanna
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2023
En: Journal of interpersonal violence
Año: 2023, Volumen: 38, Número: 17/18, Páginas: 10031-10054
Acceso en línea: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Palabras clave:
Child trafficking
defendant age
defendant gender
defendant status
victim gender
Descripción
Sumario:There has been an increase in human trafficking in Canada from 2018 to 2019, which suggests a rising trend in human trafficking, and as such, the number of court cases are likely increasing. Because of this, the current study sought to examine how a defendant and victim’s gender, and defendant social status and age impacted mock jurors’ decision-making in a child trafficking case. Participants (N = 584) read a mock trial transcript depicting a child trafficking case. They were then asked to render a verdict, answer questions relating to perceptions of the victim and defendant and rate their level of agreements on statements concerning sex and human trafficking. Although there was no effect on dichotomous verdict, mock jurors attributed higher guilt ratings to the male trafficker. Moreover, participants reported more favorable perceptions of the victim when the trafficker was female, and the victim was male compared to female. Participants also reported more favorable perceptions of the victim when the trafficker was of high social status and younger compared to older. Additionally, when mock jurors were well-informed about trafficking victim blaming did not occur. The results of the current study provide some insight into juror perceptions of child sex trafficking cases.
ISSN:1552-6518
DOI:10.1177/08862605231169760