"Jurors" in Study Favor Good-Looking Defendants

British psychologist Sandie Taylor gave 96 subjects a transcript of a mock mugging trial, paired with a picture of the "defendant." Good-looking defendants were less likely to be "convicted." Race didn't make a difference at the guilt phase, but the mock jurors gave longer sentences to black defendants. Ugly defendants 'more likely to be found guilty than attractive ones', Evening Standard, March 21, 2007.

The study is: S. Taylor & M. Butcher, Extra-legal Defendant Characteristics and Mock Juror Ethnicity Re-examined. Forthcoming in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society.

Thanks: Above the Law.