Minority juridic decision making

Experimental social psychologists interested in the examination of racial prejudice and discrimination in simulated legal studies have focused exclusively on the perceptions and subsequent legal judgments of White majority members. This experiment examined the prevalence of discriminatory bias in Black Canadian mock jurors' (N = 82) legal decision making. In a simulated videotaped rape trial, defendant and victim race (Black or White), and the impact of the legal standard (present/absent) were manipulated to create a crossed factorial design. The results indicated that in verdict decisions minority participants demonstrated positive in-group bias with the defendant being found guilty more frequently when the victim was Black. While the presence of the legal standard was sufficient to reduce the perceived culpability of the defendant it failed to reduce the impact of non-evidentiary bias with victim race prevailing as the overall best predictor of verdict irrespective of the legal standard. Discriminatory ratings observed in verdict decision were not maintained in sentence recommendations, however. The study highlights the nature of minority decision making in this important applied social context.