The effects of facial maturity and crime-type on determinations of culpability and sentence length

Perceived culpability and sentencing of a defendant is affected by several variables, including the defendant's appearance, and whether the juror is the same or opposite gender. For example, generally attractive defendants are shown leniency but not by same sex jurors, or if they appear to have used their appearance to aid in the commission of an offense. Another example is facial maturity, baby-faced people are shown more leniency for crimes that are perceived as intentional, whereas mature-faced people are shown more leniency for crimes that are perceived as negligent. The purpose of this study was determine whether different levels of facial maturity of a male defendant affect culpability and the sentence length imposed by a juror, and if so, whether this effect is affected by a defendant exploiting his appearance to aid in the commission of the crime, or the gender of the juror.