Predictors of Death Sentencing for Minority,Equal, and Majority Female Juries in Capital Murder Trials |
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| Authors: | Tara N Richards Beth E Bjerregaard Joseph Cochran M Dwayne Smith Sondra J Fogel |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USAtrichards@ubalt.edu;3. Department of Criminal Justice &4. Criminology, University of North Carolina–Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA;5. Public Policy Program, University of North Carolina–Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA;6. Department of Criminology and Office of the Provost, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA;7. School of Social Work and Honors College, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA |
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| Abstract: | The relatively small body of prior research investigating whether the sex composition of juries impacts sentencing decisions has produced equivocal results. Exploring this topic further, the current study used a large sample of capital cases from North Carolina (n = 675) to examine (a) whether jury sex composition predicted jury capital punishment sentencing decisions; and (b) whether there were different models of sentencing for male-majority, equal male-female, and female-majority juries. When we controlled for a number of legal and extralegal factors, our findings indicated that jury sex composition was independently related to sentencing outcomes. Specifically, equal male-female juries were significantly more likely and female-majority juries were significantly less likely to choose the death penalty versus a sentence of life in prison. In addition, different models (predictors) of sentencing were revealed for each of the jury sex compositions. Implications for future research and policy are discussed. |
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| Keywords: | Death penalty jury sex compositions gender and criminal justice processing |
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