Judges and jurors are asked to comb through horrific evidence of accidents and crimes
when choosing verdicts and punishment. These factfinders are likely to experience and …

Previous research suggests that a victim's emotional expression plays an important role in
credibility judgments. However, victims show different emotional responses to the …

Rape and sexual assault are unique crimes because they are mostly perpetrated against
female children, female adolescents and women. 1 In addition, both male and female victims …

Past research on determinants of victim blaming mainly concentrated on individuals' just-
world beliefs as motivational process underlying this harsh reaction to others' suffering. The …

Research during the 1960s found that observers could be moved enough by an innocent
victim's suffering to derogate their character. However, recent research has produced …

Negative observer reactions towards victims may be related to people's expectations of the
characteristics and demeanor of an ideal victim. We examined how expressed emotion …

In this study, we examined the effects of complainant emotionality, presentation mode, and
statement consistency on credibility judgments in an intimate partner abuse case. Male and …

We examined mock jurors' judgments in a rape case that was either prototypical (late-night
assault by a stranger in a public place) or non-prototypical (daytime assault by an …

Objective: Victim impact statements (VISs) are testimonies that convey the emotional,
physical, and financial harm that victims have suffered as the result of a crime. Although VISs …

Adult female sexual assault victims who appear emotional are rated as more credible by
jurors, which has been termed the emotional victim effect. Two explanations of this effect …