Original link: http://news.scotsman.com/world/Jurors-more-likely-to-convict...
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Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
21–30 of 41 posts
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Separating offense from conviction reliably is impossible, so we'll never know for sure. One thing you can do though is measure more quantifiable predictors of criminality, such as IQ, and compare estimates based on attractiveness to actual performance. In most such cases the answer is that ugly people are dumber than average and pretty people are smarter than average, but people's subjective estimates are biased muc…
The effect of intelligence may be even harder to assess reliably - are smarter people simply committing less crimes or are they just harder to be found / convicted?
They commit less crime, or at least less violent crime. The evidence is unambiguous. They have fewer behavioral problems in school, they measure lower on biological correlates of aggression (serum testosterone/DHT and cortical norepinephrine), and, perhaps most importantly, they are less likely to be victims (most murders are committed against people of similar socioeconomic status to the perpetrator).
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
The effect of intelligence may be even harder to assess reliably - are smarter people simply committing less crimes or are they just harder to be found / convicted?
They commit less crime, or at least less violent crime. The evidence is unambiguous. They have fewer behavioral problems in school, they measure lower on biological correlates of aggression (serum testosterone/DHT and cortical norepinephrine), and, perhaps most importantly, they are less likely to be victims (most murders are committed against people of similar socioeconomic status to the perpetrator).
All this sounds reasonable.
Though given how huge proportion of all crimes goes unsolved (even violent crimes are just about 45% "cleared" [1]), it also makes sense that ones who got caught will be on average less smart than ones who got away, thus skewing statistics in a major way.
[1] http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/clearances/index.ht...
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
The effect of intelligence may be even harder to assess reliably - are smarter people simply committing less crimes or are they just harder to be found / convicted?
They commit less crime, or at least less violent crime. The evidence is unambiguous. They have fewer behavioral problems in school, they measure lower on biological correlates of aggression (serum testosterone/DHT and cortical norepinephrine), and, perhaps most importantly, they are less likely to be victims (most murders are committed against people of similar socioeconomic status to the perpetrator).
That's funny -- at one point I attended a boarding school for people with 'behavioral problems', and every person there was incredibly smart. I call shenanigans on this idea that smart people get into less trouble.
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#25Are unattractive people more likely to commit crimes?
Perhaps. Prison inmates who receive plastic surgery are less likely to get charged with new crimes. Of course, maybe they also don't get charged as often in much the same way as better looking people don't get convicted as often.
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
They commit less crime, or at least less violent crime. The evidence is unambiguous. They have fewer behavioral problems in school, they measure lower on biological correlates of aggression (serum testosterone/DHT and cortical norepinephrine), and, perhaps most importantly, they are less likely to be victims (most murders are committed against people of similar socioeconomic status to the perpetrator).
That's funny -- at one point I attended a boarding school for people with 'behavioral problems', and every person there was incredibly smart. I call shenanigans on this idea that smart people get into less trouble.
Wow, talk about a sampling bias.
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#27I am curious why don't they keep the defendants and jury in a seperate room. They can let the jury hear all the arguments etc. I suppose the voice would still be a concern, but it should take care of the unattractive problem for the most part.
Watching the person's movements and mannerisms is a very important part of trust.
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#28[deleted]
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#29Attractive people, on average, think less and are more sensitive to emotion including conscience. This makes them more likely to be good and less likely to be guilty of crime.
Thinking draws resources away from the body and thus indirectly affects things like movement, grace and growth.
Hence the medieval law of combat: a good knight could not lose against a bad knight.
Also the Emperor Palpatine's skin problems, ugly stepmothers in fairy tales, etc.
Also George Orwell's comment "At age 50, every man has the face he deserves."
Re: Jurors more likely to convict unattractive people
#30Attractive people, on average, think less and are more sensitive to emotion including conscience. This makes them more likely to be good and less likely to be guilty of crime. Thinking draws resources away from the body and thus indirectly affects things like movement, grace and growth. Hence the medieval law of combat: a good knight could not lose against a bad knight. Also the Emperor Palpatine's skin problems, ugl…
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