Victim and Wrongdoer Gender in Sexual Assault: Examining Effects on Perceived Crime Severity and Retributive and Restorative Justice Orientations

Sexual assault can be experienced and initiated by individuals of various gender identities. Despite this, research suggests individuals' perceptions of sexual assault appear to vary based on the gender of both the victim and the wrongdoer, with most research in this domain addressing important topics that may influence individuals’ perceptions of justice, including blame attribution, emotional harm, and perceived crime severity. In particular, biases appear to more negatively impact male victims and male wrongdoers. Additionally, gender biases appear to influence sentencing decisions. Despite this, little research has addressed the relationship between gendered perceptions and sentencing objectives, especially research comparing both same sex and opposite sex dyads. Moreover, research is especially limited in regard to restorative justice, an emerging framework of justice in the West. This study aims to examine differences in perceptions of crime severity and retributive/restorative justice orientations across sexual assault vignettes with varying victim and wrongdoer gender dyads. Results may have important implications for the effects of gender on jury decision-making in both retributive and restorative contexts.