| Research on jury decision-making has shown that characteristics of jurors, defendants, and victims affect verdicts. Little research has been done, however, on the effect that attorney and case characteristics have upon jury decision-making. This study extends the literature by exploring the impact that case type (drugs or embezzlement), attorney race (white or black), attorney type (prosecutor or defense), and attorney race depending on case type have upon verdicts and sentencing.;Previous studies have shown that blacks are often associated with stereotypes such as laziness and unintelligence. Further, blacks are more likely to be connected with crimes involving violence or drugs than money. Scholars have found that whites who subscribe to these stereotypes tend to judge black defendants more harshly. Assuming these stereotypes extend to black attorneys, I expected that jurors would vote more favorably toward white attorneys than black attorneys, except in stereotypical "black crime" cases.;Simulated trials were provided to respondents, who read through them and answered questionnaires afterwards. The trials were exactly the same, except that the attorney race, attorney type, and case type, were changed in various simulations. Dependent variables are verdict and sentence. Primary independent variables are attorney race, attorney type, and case type. Other independent variables include jurors' race, gender, college status, and jurors' scores on a legal attitudes questionnaire and symbolic racism scale.;Findings suggest that the race of the defense attorney and prosecutor significantly influence verdicts. Jurors are more likely to give "Not Guilty" verdicts to defendants represented by white defense attorneys than those represented by black defense attorneys. Jurors are also more likely to vote "Not Guilty" when the prosecutor is black than when the prosecutor is white. Though defense attorney race is not a significant influence on sentencing, prosecutor race has a significant effect on sentencing. Jurors are more likely to give shorter sentences to defendants when the prosecutor is black than when the prosecutor is white. While attorney race does not seem to affect verdicts and sentencing depending on the type of case, case type is still a significant predictor of sentence length.;KEYWORDS: Jury Decision-making, Verdicts, Sentencing, Race, Attorneys. |
