The Influence of Victim Blame Statements and Expert Testimony on Jury Decision Making During Cases of Sexual Assault

Rape myths are pervasive beliefs about sex crimes that can significantly influence trial outcomes. Expert testimony has been proposed as a method to mitigate the effect of rape myths within trials, but research to date is mixed. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the presence and content of expert testimony in a criminal trial of rape. Participants (N = 155) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (i.e., no expert testimony, general expert testimony regarding rape myths, specific expert testimony discussing a particular rape myth). Participants rendered a verdict and answered questions regarding perceptions of the victim and defendant (i.e., believability, credibility, and responsibility). Though expert testimony did not influence verdicts, perceptions of the victim (e.g., credibility, confidence that the victim was raped) were most favorable when participants were exposed to the general expert testimony. Expert testimony did not impact perceptions of the defendant. Results indicate that expert testimony may be effective at influencing certain perceptions of the victim. Future research should continue to investigate other ways that expert testimony may be effective in mitigating the influence of rape myths.