1. Logan Ewanation Evelyn M. Maeder
Indigenous Peoples in the Courtroom: Investigating the Effect of Defendant and Eyewitness Race on Juror Decision-Making in a Criminal Trial
Logan Ewanation
Evelyn M. Maeder

2. Outline Theory Literature Review Procedure/Materials Hypotheses
Results
Discussion

3. Theory Stereotypes Aversive Racism (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986)
Director’s Cut (Devine, 2012)
Indigenous Eyewitness Testimony
Less likely added to story
Affecting verdict decisions

4. Eyewitnesses
Common for witnesses to be intoxicated at the time of the crime (Palmer, Flowe, Takarangi, & Humphries, 2013)
No effect of alcohol on eyewitness memory (Hagsand et al., 2013; Harvey et al., 2013; Schreiber Compo et al., 2012)
Mock jurors perceive intoxicated witnesses as less reliable, affecting verdict decisions (Evans & Schreiber Compo, 2010)
Witness race affects mock jurors’ perceptions (Abshire & Bornstein, 2003; Frumkin, 2007)

5. Defendant Race
Similarity-leniency bias (Devine & Caughlin, 2014; Wuensch et al., 2002)
Aversive racism framework (Pfeifer & Ogloff, 1991; Pfeifer & Ogloff, 2003)
Indigenous defendants given longer sentences, more likely to be found guilty than White defendants (Maeder & Burdett, 2013; Maeder et al., 2015)
Higher ratings of guilt to Native American defendants when intoxicated compared to sober (Struckman-Johnson et al., 2008)

6. Present Study
Investigate whether jurors are prejudiced against Indigenous eyewitnesses
Intoxication
Further examine the role of defendant race

7. Participants Online community sample N = 420 Jury eligible Qualtrics
36% male, 54% female, 10% didn’t disclose
81% white
Jury eligible
18 years or older
Canadian citizen
No prior indictable offence
Fluent in English

8. Materials/Procedure Juror Instructions Trial Transcripts
Hit and run scenario
Identification of a vehicle
8 conditions
Witness intoxication (sober, intoxicated), witness/defendant race (Indigenous, White) manipulated

9. Materials/Procedure Juror Questionnaire Dichotomous verdicts
Perceptions of eyewitness testimony
Credibility
Accuracy
Deception
Cultural Criminality Stereotypes (e.g., violent, dangerous, cruel)

10. Design
2 (Eyewitness intoxication: intoxicated, sober) x 2 (Eyewitness race: Indigenous, White) x 2 (Defendant race: Indigenous, White) factorial design

11. Hypotheses
H1: Indigenous peoples stereotyped as more criminal than White Canadians
H2a: Intoxicated witnesses perceived less favourably than sober witnesses
H2b: Intoxicated witnesses would lead to fewer guilty verdicts
H3a: Indigenous witnesses perceived less favourably than White witnesses
H3b: Indigenous witnesses would lead to fewer guilty verdicts
Investigate potential racial bias jurors possess regarding Aboriginal Canadian witnesses
Particularly when witness was intoxicated
Further examine defendant race

12. Hypotheses
H1: Indigenous peoples culturally stereotyped as more criminal than White Canadians
H2a: Intoxicated witnesses perceived less favourably than sober witnesses
H2b: Intoxicated witnesses would lead to fewer guilty verdicts
H3a: Indigenous witnesses perceived less favourably than White witnesses
H3b: Indigenous witnesses would lead to fewer guilty verdicts

13. Hypotheses
H1: Indigenous peoples culturally stereotyped as more criminal than White Canadians
H2a: Intoxicated witnesses perceived less favourably than sober witnesses
H2b: Intoxicated witnesses would lead to fewer guilty verdicts
H3a: Indigenous witnesses perceived less favourably than White witnesses
H3b: Indigenous witnesses would lead to fewer guilty verdicts

14. Hypotheses Cont’d
H4a: Intoxicated Indigenous witnesses perceived less favourably than intoxicated White witnesses
H4b: Intoxicated Indigenous witnesses would lead to fewer guilty verdicts than intoxicated White witnesses
H5: Tested the competing similarity-leniency and aversive racism frameworks w. regards to verdict

15. Hypotheses Cont’d
H4a: Intoxicated Indigenous witnesses will be perceived less favourably than intoxicated White witnesses
H4b: Intoxicated Indigenous witnesses will lead to fewer guilty verdicts than intoxicated White witnesses
H5: Testing the competing similarity-leniency and aversive racism frameworks w. regards to verdict

16. Results – Juror Verdicts & Punishment Ratings
Hierarchical logistic regressions for both verdicts
Defendant race
Witness race
Witness intoxication
No sig. main effects or interactions

17. Results - Cultural Stereotypes
Indigenous peoples (M = 4.19, SD = 1.15) culturally stereotyped as more criminal than White Canadians (M = 3.13, SD = .89), p<.001
Relationship with verdict
Indigenous cultural stereotypes
b = -.410, p =. 001 (OR = .66)
White cultural stereotypes
b = .295, p = .044 (OR = 1.34)
Failure to stop/hit and run verdict. For dangerous driving verdict, everything same except White not sig

18. Results – Eyewitness Accuracy
Main effect of eyewitness race, b = -.490, p = .020
Main effect of eyewitness intoxication, b = , p <.001
No effect of defendant race, no significant interactions
Relationship with verdict
b = .33, p <.001 (OR=1.39)

19. Results – Eyewitness Credibility
Main effect of witness intoxication, b = , p < .001
No other significant main effects, interactions
Relationship with verdict
B = .33, p <.001 (OR = 1.39)
3rd regression w. witness deception, similar pattern of results

20. Discussion Cultural Stereotypes Witness Intoxication Hypothesis 1
Related to verdict
Witness Intoxication
Hypothesis 2a 
Hypothesis 2b 
Case type?

21. Discussion Eyewitness Race
Hypothesis 3a, 3b 
No differences between intoxicated Indigenous and intoxicated White eyewitnesses for perceptions or final verdicts
Hypothesis 4a, 4b 
Correcting for unfavourable cultural stereotypes?
Instructions reducing influence of racial bias?

22. Discussion
Tested two competing theories regarding defendant race in the courtroom w. regards to verdict
Similarity-leniency
Aversive racism
No effect on final verdicts
Potentially correcting for cultural stereotypes?
Media attention?

23. Future Directions
Perceptions of intoxicated witnesses w. a variety of scenarios
Continued investigation of race’s impact on juror decision- making
Variety of charges
Specific geographical locations
Deliberation component
Examine influence of jury racial composition

24. Conclusion Somewhat surprising null racial effects Media attention
Missing and murdered Indigenous Women
Future research to ensure a fair trial without discrimination
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

25. Mediation Analyses witness credibility b = 0.70** b = -2.53**
witness intoxication
verdict
b = 1.55**
95% CI: -2.27, -1.36

26. Mediation Analyses witness accuracy b = 0.58** b = 1.74**
witness intoxication
verdict
b =0.74*
95% CI: -1.42, -0.72

27. Mediation Analyses witness accuracy b = 0.51* b = -.51* witness race
verdict
b = -0.14
95% CI: -0.58, -0.03