Mock juror perceptions of juvenile defendants in adult court

The focus of this study is on individual juror\u27s perceptions of juveniles that have been remanded to the adult court system for trial. Jurors are expected to be harsher on juveniles tried in adult court than they would be on adults who committed the same crime. Participants recruited from students in UNLV\u27s criminal justice classes were given a short vignette of a crime where the defendant\u27s age and severity of the crime were manipulated. Participants were also given a short packet of personality questionnaires. Participants were asked to make verdict recommendations and sentence the offender when a guilty verdict was rendered. Results did not support the initial hypothesis. There was no significant difference between juveniles and adults with regard to verdicts rendered, nor did the personality scales have a significant effect on results