The Influence of Nondiagnostic Information and Victim Stereotypes on Perceptions of Guilt

Recent research has revealed that increasing nondiagnostic information about victims in rape trial scenarios decreases guilty verdicts. This finding contradicts several existing theoretical positions that predict nondiagnostic information about a target is beneficial to that target. Three experiments are presented to resolve this incongruity. It is hypothesized that greater nondiagnostic victim information can increase use of victim stereotypes. As such, we predicted that increasing nondiagnostic victim information decreases the number of guilty verdicts in trials featuring strongly negative victim stereotypes (e.g., rape trials), but not trials without strongly negative victim stereotypes (e.g., assault trials). In Study 1, nondiagnostic victim information in an assault trial scenario led to more—rather than fewer—guilty verdicts. In Study 2, increasing nondiagnostic victim information led to increased negative stereotyped perceptions in a rape trial scenario but not an assault trial scenario. In Study 3, nondiagnostic information showed no difference on the impact on the perception of male versus female victims of assault. Finally, we demonstrate the mechanisms by which nondiagnostic target information alters trial verdicts.