Sentencing research suggests that offenders who are more physically attractive are more likely to experience leniency in verdict and sentencing. Additionally, there is evidence that other extralegal factors, such as race, influence public and juror opinions on criminality and the appropriate punishment of criminal defendants. Much research on attractiveness, however, has not focused on female offenders or does not explore death penalty opinions. Using a student sample and an online survey with factorial vignettes, this study seeks to examine the likelihood of endorsing the death penalty for a hypothetical female offender relative to her physical attractiveness and race. Results show that attractiveness of the offender did not affect the likelihood of the respondent selecting the death penalty. The race of the offender and victim did affect the likelihood of the respondent selecting the death sentence, with respondents less likely to select the death penalty for African American offenders than white offenders, more likely to select the death penalty in vignettes with African American victims than white victims.

量刑研究表明，在身体上更具吸引力的罪犯更有可能在判决和量刑中得到宽大处理。此外，有证据表明，其他法律外因素，例如种族，会影响公众和陪审员对犯罪的看法以及对刑事被告的适当惩罚。但是，关于吸引力的许多研究并未集中在女性罪犯上，也没有探讨死刑的观点。本研究使用学生样本和带有析因小插曲的在线调查，旨在研究假设的女性罪犯相对于她的身体吸引力和种族，认可死刑的可能性。结果表明，罪犯的吸引力并没有影响被告选择死刑的可能性。罪犯和受害人的种族确实影响了被告选择死刑的可能性，与白人相比，被告选择非裔美国人罪犯的死刑可能性更低，与非裔美国人受害者相比，选择死刑的可能性更大。白人受害者。