Criminology Commons^™

Mock Juror Perceptions Of Police Shootings: The Effects Of Victim Race And Shooting Justifiability, Jessica Huff, Muaricio J. Alvarez, Monica K. Miller

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Recent police shootings of African Americans have led citizens to question police officers’ use of force. Thus, it is important to determine whether mock jurors can distinguish between justifiable and unjustifiable police shootings—and whether their judgements depend on victim race. Media attention could lead jurors to be more punitive in cases in which an officer shoots an African American (compared to Caucasian) victim. A punitive verdict would reflect society’s opposition to such shootings, as suggested by the bandwagon effect. In a 2 (Shooting: Justified/Unjustified) x 2 (Victim’s race: African American/ Caucasian) experiment, mock jurors read a trial summary involving a …