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Article
Predictors of Death Sentencing for Minority, Equal, and Majority Female Juries in Capital Murder Trials
Women & Criminal Justice
  • Tara N. Richards, University of Baltimore
  • Beth E. Bjerregaard, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
  • Joseph Cochran, University of North Carolina
  • M. Dwayne Smith, University of South Florida
  • Sondra J. Fogel, University of South Florida
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2016
Keywords
  • Death penalty,
  • jury sex compositions,
  • gender and criminal justice processing
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2015.1115802
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.

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Women & Criminal Justice, v. 26, issue 4, p. 260-280

Citation Information
Tara N. Richards, Beth E. Bjerregaard, Joseph Cochran, M. Dwayne Smith, et al.. "Predictors of Death Sentencing for Minority, Equal, and Majority Female Juries in Capital Murder Trials" Women & Criminal Justice Vol. 26 Iss. 4 (2016) p. 260 - 280
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sondra-fogel/52/