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Title

Looking Deathworthy: Perceived Stereotypicality of Black Defendants Predicts Capital-Sentencing Outcomes

Authors

Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Stanford UniversityFollow
P G. Davies, UCLAFollow
Valerie J. Purdie-Vaughns, Yale UniversityFollow
Sheri Lynn Johnson, Cornell University Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in: Psychological Science, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp. 383-386, May 2006

Abstract

Researchers previously have investigated the role of race in capital sentencing, and in particular, whether the race of the defendant or victim influences the likelihood of a death sentence. In the present study, we examined whether the likelihood of being sentenced to death is influenced by the degree to which a Black defendant is perceived to have a stereotypically Black appearance. Controlling for a wide array of factors, we found that in cases involving a White victim, the more stereotypically Black a defendant is perceived to be, the more likely that person is to be sentenced to death.

Date of Authorship for this Version

May 2006

Keywords

Capital punishment, Race

Recommended Citation

Eberhardt, Jennifer L.; Davies, P G.; Purdie-Vaughns, Valerie J.; and Johnson, Sheri Lynn, "Looking Deathworthy: Perceived Stereotypicality of Black Defendants Predicts Capital-Sentencing Outcomes" (2006). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. 41.
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/lsrp_papers/41