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Playing the blame game: Indigenous status and culpability in ambiguous sexual assaults

Faculty Advisor

Date

2019

Keywords

Indigenous peoples, racial biases, culpability, jurors

Abstract (summary)

Given the current social and political climate of emphasis on sexual violence awareness, as well as attempts to rectify past injustices that were committed in the ‘name of race’, so to speak, the current study was designed to assess bias within these two relevant areas. Studies concerning racial biases that may be more relevant to Canadian jurors (such as those involving Indigenous persons) are relatively lacking. While there is much statistical and anecdotal evidence to suggest that Indigenous persons are treated differently in the criminal justice system (i.e., prison over-representation, sentencing disparity), there is little evidence specifically focused on biases that may affect jurors in Canadian courtrooms. As a result, the present study was designed to examine whether race and age factors influence decisions concerning criminal culpability.

Publication Information

DOI

Notes

Presented on April 23, 2019 at Student Research Day held at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta.

Item Type

Student Presentation

Language

English

Rights

All Rights Reserved