The Physical Appearance of Female Assault Victims as a Mediating Factor in Blameworthiness

• In Event: Physical Appearance and Crime: Bias Imposed by the Police, Public, and Offenders Against Suspects and Victims"

Abstract

it is known that level of physical attractiveness plays an important role in assigning blameworthiness of crime victims. As part of a larger study, this paper focuses on path modeling between level of victim attractiveness (as the independent variable), leading to blame assigned to the victim for her victimization, which then leads to guilt assigned to the defendant (the dependent variable). Whether gender serves as a mediating of moderating variable is explored.

Authors

• Jennifer Wareham, Wayne State University

• Brenda Sims Blackwell, Georgia Southern University

• Denise Paquette Boots, University of Texas at Dallas