title: A propensity score matching analysis of the relationship between victim sex and capital juror decision-making in North Carolina.
abstract: A small body of prior research has examined the impact of victim sex on jury death penalty decision-making and the majority of this research has demonstrated some evidence of a "female victim effect" such that cases involving a female victim are more likely to receive the death penalty than similarly situated cases with a male victim. However, within this line of research studies have suggested that victim sex may work in conjunction with other case characteristics. In order to further explore this phenomenon, the current study examines a near-population of death penalty cases from North Carolina (n=1069) from 1977-2009 using propensity score matching. Results demonstrate that once cases are matched on more than 50 legal and extralegal case characteristics, there is no statistically significant or substantive link between victim sex and death penalty decision-making. Findings suggest that it is concrete differences in the legal and extralegal factors observed in cases with female victims compared to male victims that shape jury death sentence decisions rather than a direct effect of victim sex (before matching: OR=1.53; 95% CI=1.20-1.95; p<.001/after matching: OR=0.90; 95% CI=0.66-1.24; p=.52). Study limitations and implications are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of South Florida, Department of Criminology, United States.
authors.forename: Wesley G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.affiliation: University of Baltimore, School of Criminal Justice, United States.
authors.forename: Tara N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.affiliation: University of South Florida, Department of Criminology, United States.
authors.forename: M Dwayne
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina - Charlotte, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, United States.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bjerregaard
authors.affiliation: University of South Florida, School of Social Work, United States.
authors.forename: Sondra J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Fogel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002203:Capital Punishment; D019548:Crime Victims; D003416:Criminal Law; D057237:Criminals; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D057216:Propensity Score; D011678:Punishment; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Capital punishment; Death penalty; Propensity score matching; Victim sex