Predictors of Death Sentencing for Minority, Equal, and Majority Female Juries in Capital Murder Trials
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2016-01
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Richards, T. N., Bjerregaard, B. E., Cochran, J., Smith, M. D., & Fogel, S. J. (2016). Predictors of Death Sentencing for Minority, Equal, and Majority Female Juries in Capital Murder Trials. Women & Criminal Justice, 26(4), 260-280. doi:10.1080/08974454.2015.1115802
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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.